Biomass Accumulation Potential of Exotic Tree Species in Nigeria

As part of integrated approach to aboveground biomass analysis (ABA), forest inventory data and landsat 8 remotely sensed data were used to investigate biomass accumulation of Tectona grandis and Gmelina arborea hereafter referred to as teak and gmelina respectively in oluwa forest. Six (6) vegetation indices, including simple ratio (SR), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), normalized Difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI), specific leaf area vegetation index (SLAVI) and generalized difference vegetation index (GDVI) were calculated from landsat 8 data. Biomass/carbon storage potential of gmelina of 11 and 15 years are 136.21 t/ha and 184.59 t ha-1 respectively, while for teak of 15 and 20 years, 277.11 t/ha and 183.98 t/ha were stored respectively. The relationship between aboveground biomass, vegetation indices and spectral bands responses were modelled using stepwise regression. Two models were generated including spectral response of band 8 (panchromatic band) with an adjusted R2 of 0.336, and combination of band 7 and band 8 (model 2) with an R2 of 0.678 were obtained.