Allometric Models to Estimate Carbon Content in Arecaceae Based on Seven Species of Neotropical Palms

We present allometric models for estimating total carbon content and above ground (AGC) the Arecaceae family, seven abundant neotropical palm species: canopy species Socratea exorrhiza ( n = 10) Iriartea deltoidea 10), sub-canopy Euterpe precatoria understory Asterogyne martiana 15), Prestoea decurrens Geonoma interrupta Chamaedorea tepejilote 22). Understanding allometry of functional groups such as palms is critical improving stocks estimates in tropical forests determining how differences affect diversity. The research was carried out rainforests Caribbean slope Costa Rica. harvested 87 a wide range sizes, separated them into roots, stems, leaves, measured their fresh dry biomass, calculated content, tissue density, mass fraction (dmf). Our general model based on these samples accounted 92% variation across species. generated similar to estimate AGC explained 91% variation. compared our with two used content: Goodman et al. (2013) ’s Chave (2014) found that all three converged estimation although most parsimonious because it achieved same efficiency only variables, stem diameter height. To improve accuracy we need incorporate more species, greater diversity growth forms, wider larger sample size, habitats dominated by palms. Estimating using approaches could benefit from consistency data collection plant groups.