Landscape-scale variation in the structure and biomass of the hill dipterocarp forest of Sumatra: Implications for carbon stock assessments

At the same time, our findings confirm the need for caution in extrapolating data from small plots to larger spatial scales when estimating carbon stocks for a given forest type or a region. Our results for C stock values for Sumatra lowland and hill dipterocarp forests (135-240 Mg ha−1, with a mean of 180 Mg ha−1) showed higher variability in C stock values at landscape level than generally reported in the literature. Based on our results, stratified sampling is recommended for biomass and carbon estimation. Within an error range of 6-8% of the AGBM, a minimum area of 4-6 ha should be sufficient to estimate biomass with satisfactory accuracy at the landscape scale. Networks of several small plots across landscape are preferable to fewer larger plots, providing that the sampling is representative of the land facets in the area.