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Species-specific allometric models for estimating aboveground biomass and carbon stocks of plantation forests in northcentral Ethiopia

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Abstract

Plantation forests are crucial for landscape rehabilitation and carbon sequestration. However, the efficacy of these plantations in carbon sequestration in Ethiopia remains uncertain due to a lack of robust, species- and site-specific biomass estimation models. This study addresses this gap by developing and validating allometric models for estimating aboveground biomass (AGB) and carbon (C) stocks of plantation forests. Allometric models were developed using data from 69 harvested trees of three species: Eucalyptus globulus, Cupressus lusitanica, and Pinus patula. AGB was regressed against diameter at breast height (DBH) as the sole predictor, with stepwise inclusion of height (H), crown area and wood density. Model performance was evaluated using fit statistics, including Pseudo-R2 and mean prediction error (MPE). The model that incorporated both DBH and H as predictors provided the best fit (Pseudo-R2 > 0.90, p < 0.001) and achieved the lowest MPE (1.47–5.67%) across all species. The findings indicated a mean C stock of 121.6 Mg C ha−1 in the plantations studied. Our models provide valuable insights for forest management and improve the accuracy of AGB and C stock estimations in the study area and similar ecosystems. The estimated C stocks can serve as a benchmark for assessing future C dynamics.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Ankober district agricultural office and Amhara Forest enterprise Debere Birhan branch for permission to harvest sample trees. We also express our gratitude to Amsalu Abich for his significant contribution to improving the quality of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources, Hawassa University, Shashemene, Ethiopia

    Getabalew Teshome Reta & Motuma Tolera

  2. Centre for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry Centre (CIFOR-ICRAF), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Mulugeta Mokria

Authors

  1. Getabalew Teshome Reta
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  2. Motuma Tolera
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  3. Mulugeta Mokria
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Contributions

This work is part of a PhD study of the first author— G.T.R.: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. M.T.: supervision, conceptualization, methodology, and writing—review and editing. M.M.: supervision, conceptualization, methodology, and writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to
Getabalew Teshome Reta.

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Reta, G.T., Tolera, M. & Mokria, M. Species-specific allometric models for estimating aboveground biomass and carbon stocks of plantation forests in northcentral Ethiopia.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-48435-0

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Keywords

  • Biometric parameters
  • Climate change
  • Model comparisons
  • Semi-destructive

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