<scp>biomass</scp>: an <scp>r</scp> package for estimating above‐ground biomass and its uncertainty in tropical forests

<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p> <jats:list> <jats:list-item><jats:p>Estimating forest above‐ground biomass (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">AGB</jats:styled-content>), or carbon (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">AGC</jats:styled-content>), in tropical forests has become a major concern for scientists and stakeholders. However, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">AGB</jats:styled-content> assessment procedures are not fully standardized and even more importantly, the uncertainty associated with <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">AGB</jats:styled-content> estimates is seldom assessed.</jats:p></jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:p>Here, we present an <jats:sc>r</jats:sc> package designed to compute both <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">AGB</jats:styled-content>/<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">AGC</jats:styled-content> estimate and its associated uncertainty from forest plot datasets, using a Bayesian inference procedure. The package builds upon previous work on pantropical and regional biomass allometric equations and published datasets by default, but it can also integrate unpublished or complementary datasets in many steps.</jats:p></jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:p><jats:styled-content>BIOMASS</jats:styled-content> performs a number of standard tasks on input forest tree inventories: (i) tree species identification, if available, is automatically corrected; (ii) wood density is estimated from tree species identity; (iii) if height data are available, a local height–diameter allometry may be built; else height is inferred from pantropical or regional models; (iv) finally, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">AGB</jats:styled-content>/<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">AGC</jats:styled-content> are estimated by propagating the errors associated with all the calculation steps up to the final estimate. R code is given in the paper and in the appendix for the purpose of illustration.</jats:p></jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> <jats:p>The <jats:styled-content>BIOMASS</jats:styled-content> package should contribute to improved standards for <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">AGB</jats:styled-content> calculation for tropical forest stands, and will encourage users to report the uncertainties associated with stand‐level <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">AGB</jats:styled-content>/<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">AGC</jats:styled-content> estimates in future studies.</jats:p> </jats:list-item> </jats:list> </jats:p>