Abstract: Biomass is one of the basic characteristics of forest ecosystems. The allocation patterns and estimation models of biomass are important for evaluating productivity, ecological functions and carbon cycle of forest. A study on the biomass allocation patterns and allometric models of Larix principisrupprechtii was conducted in Mt. Taiyue, Shanxi, China. The results showed that a significant linear relationship existed between the aboveground biomass and belowground biomass (P<0.001). Proportions of stemwood, stembark, branch, needle, cone, and root relative to the wholetree biomass were 47.20%, 10.36%, 15.16%, 6.80%, 0.78% and 19.69%, respectively. The vertical distribution of canopy biomass increased gradually from the upper layer (22.70%) to lower layer (29.11%) and middle layer (48.19%). The proportion of branch biomass increased with the increase of diameter at breast height (DBH), while it was opposite for the needle biomass. The proportion of root biomass decreased with the decrease of root diameter. The proportion of stump root biomass and coarse root biomass increased with the increase of DBH, while it was opposite for the other roots. There were significant exponential relationships between the component biomass and the parameters (DBH, tree height, age, canopy length) of the trees (P<0.05). The allometric models explained more than 90% variations of stemwood, stembark, root and wholetree biomass, and 81.3% and 74.4% variations of branch biomass and needle biomass, respectively. DBH and tree height were reliable predictors for estimating the biomass of L. principisrupprechtii.

Key words: ecological species group, salt marsh plant, Chongming Dongtan, species protection., inter-specific association