Carbon assessment of Taxodium distichum knees in Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (2004)

Estimates of the biomass of the knees of baldcypress (Taxodium distichum), and oddly shaped, difficult to quantify vegetation components, can be critical to improve estimates of carbon stock in blue carbon assessments. To this end, tree metrics (e.g., density, height, biomass) were examined in 2004 at mixed baldcypress swamps across the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (MRAV) from Illinois to Louisiana. Biomass of knees was estimated using the point-centered quarter method and volume/mass regressions calculated from measurements of knee height and diameter of the base of knees.