{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,19]],"date-time":"2026-01-19T10:57:51Z","timestamp":1768820271848,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,9]],"date-time":"2021-03-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1615248000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Forest Research Institute of the German Federal State of Rheinland-Pfalz (FAWF) in Trippstadt","award":["HBDStudies"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["HBDStudies"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Forest biomass is currently among the most important and most researched target variables in forest monitoring. The common approach of observing individual tree biomass in forest inventory is to assign the total tree biomass to the dimensionless point of the tree position. However, the tree biomass, in particular in the crown, is horizontally distributed above the crown projection area. This horizontal distribution of individual tree biomass (HBD) has not attracted much attention\u2014but if quantified, it can improve biomass estimation and help to better represent the spatial distribution of forest fuel. In this study, we derive a first empirical model of the branch HBD for individual trees of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). We destructively measured 23 beech trees to derive an empirical model for the branch HBD. We then applied Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) to a subset of 17 trees to test a simple point cloud metric predicting the branch HBD. We observed similarities between a branch HBD and commonly applied taper functions, which inspired our HBD model formulations. The models performed well in representing the HBD both for the measured biomass, and the TLS-based metric. Our models may be used as first approximations to the HBD of individual trees\u2014while our methodological approach may extend to trees of different sizes and species.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs13051041","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,9]],"date-time":"2021-03-09T12:08:01Z","timestamp":1615291681000},"page":"1041","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["The Horizontal Distribution of Branch Biomass in European Beech: A Model Based on Measurements and TLS Based Proxies"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9878-7678","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"C\u00e9sar","family":"P\u00e9rez-Cruzado","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Forest Inventory and Remote Sensing, University of G\u00f6ttingen, D-37077 G\u00f6ttingen, Germany"},{"name":"Department of Crop Production and Engineering Projects, University of Santiago de Compostela, E-27002 Lugo, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8625-3492","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christoph","family":"Kleinn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Forest Inventory and Remote Sensing, University of G\u00f6ttingen, D-37077 G\u00f6ttingen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3777-5478","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paul","family":"Magdon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Forest Inventory and Remote Sensing, University of G\u00f6ttingen, D-37077 G\u00f6ttingen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5206-9128","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juan Gabriel","family":"\u00c1lvarez-Gonz\u00e1lez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agroforestry Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, E-27002 Lugo, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Steen","family":"Magnussen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Victoria, BC V8Z 1M5, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lutz","family":"Fehrmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Forest Inventory and Remote Sensing, University of G\u00f6ttingen, D-37077 G\u00f6ttingen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4925-2287","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nils","family":"N\u00f6lke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Forest Inventory and Remote Sensing, University of G\u00f6ttingen, D-37077 G\u00f6ttingen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"199","DOI":"10.1016\/S0378-1127(00)00460-6","article-title":"Reducing Uncertainty in the use of Allometric Biomass Equations for Predicting Above-Ground Tree Biomass in Mixed Secondary Forests","volume":"146","author":"Ketterings","year":"2001","journal-title":"For. 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