Development of forest aboveground biomass estimation, its problems and future solutions: A review

Forest aboveground biomass (AGB) is crucial as it serves as a fundamental indicator of the productivity, biodiversity, and carbon storage of forest ecosystems. This paper presents a targeted literature review of advancements in AGB estimation methods. We conducted an extensive review of published literature using Web of Science, ResearchGate, Semantic Scholar, and Google Scholar. Our findings highlight the importance of accurate AGB estimation in the studies of terrestrial carbon cycle, forest ecosystem management, and climate change. Moreover, AGB estimation contributes valuable ecological knowledge and supports effective natural resource management. Unfortunately, during the data collection process for AGB estimation, we have identified two critical yet often overlooked issues: (1) the reliability of manual survey accuracy, and (2) the impact of overlap between ground plots and remote sensing pixels on AGB estimation. Drawing on existing technologies and literature analysis, we propose a potentially effective solution to address these challenges. In conclusion, accurate estimation and mapping of forest parameters, such as AGB, will remain a priority in forestry research for the foreseeable future. To ensure the practical applicability of AGB research findings, our future research efforts will focus on understanding manual survey accuracy and determining the optimal overlap between plots and pixels.