Functions for biomass estimation of young Pinus sylvestris, Picea abies and Betula spp. from stands in northern Sweden with high stand densities

New silvicultural regimes with high within-stand competition require new functions for estimation of standing stock and growth of biomass components, since the allometry of trees is changed by light competition. This paper presents functions for estimation of the above-ground biomass dry weights for stem wood, stem bark, branches and leaves of young (diameter at breast height < 10 cm) Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Norway spruce [Picea abies (L.) Karst.] and birch (Betula pendula Roth. and Betula pubescens Ehrh.) trees growing in dense mixed stands. The functions were derived from a sample consisting of 84 Scots pine, 43 Norway spruce and 66 birch trees from six stands in northern Sweden with high stand densities (>10000 st ha(-1)). The logarithmically transformed power function displayed a good ability to stabilize the variance of dry weights and showed a good fit to the material (0.37 < R-2 < 0.99). A comparison with the most commonly used biomass functions in Sweden today showed that they overestimated the weight of stem wood and branches, while the weight of foliage was underestimated. The nature of these discrepancies suggested that the precision of biomass estimations might also be improved for young trees at wider spacing.