SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Biophysics and Modeling
This article is part of the Research TopicIntegrative Biophysical Models to Uncover Fundamental Processes in Plant Growth, Development, and PhysiologyView all 12 articles
Allometric Equations for Orchard and Vineyard Trees: Enhancing AFOLU-Based Climate Change Mitigation
Provisionally accepted
- University of Seoul, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Accurate estimation of biomass carbon in perennial orchard systems is essential for improving national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories under the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector. While forests have traditionally been the primary focus of biomass modeling, perennial fruit orchards—with their long-lived woody structure—offer considerable carbon sequestration potential in both aboveground biomass and belowground pools, including soil organic carbon. This review proposes a standardized methodological framework for developing biomass-based emission and removal factors tailored to orchard systems aligned with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier 2 reporting protocols. It synthesizes empirical research on allometric equation development across a range of fruit species, highlighting applications in carbon stock estimation, recent advances in model validation, and uncertainty assessment. Representative case studies from citrus, mango, grapevine, and argan orchards illustrate the importance of species-and system-specific modeling approaches. Integrating these models into national GHG inventories enhances reporting accuracy, supports climate mitigation planning, and promotes the recognition of perennial orchards as viable components of climate-smart agriculture and nature-based solutions. Ultimately, the adoption of orchard-specific carbon accounting contributes to more transparent, complete, and representative AFOLU inventories, strengthening national commitments to net-zero targets.
Keywords: allometric equations, aboveground biomass, Carbon Sequestration, climatemitigation strategies, perennial fruit trees, power function, orchards
Received: 22 Jul 2025; Accepted: 07 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kwak, Lee, Cheng, Kim, Kim and Woo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Suyoung Woo, wsy@uos.ac.kr
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