BIOPAK
Description
BIOPAK (Means, et al. 1994) is a menu-driven package of computer programs for personal computers that calculates the biomass, area, height, length, or volume of plant components (leaves, branches, stem, crown, and roots) and biomass by fuels size classes using existing prediction equations. Most of the 1150 equations in the equation library currently available as part of BIOPAK were developed in the Pacific Northwest, including southeast Alaska. A few are from the northern Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. When appropriate equations are available, they can be added to this library, or new libraries can be created for other regions of the world, using the Library Editor. BIOPAK produces reports that are formatted for people and files that are compatible with other software. Other reports document the design of a computation run and the equations used.
Means et al. (1996) describe the use of BIOPAK for estimating fuels of live shrubs and herbs in standard fuels size classes. A new equation library contains about 300 equations for estimating fuels for species of the Pacific Northwest and northern Rocky Mountains.
Purpose and Scope
For a given species and plant component, the program can choose equations from those contained in an equation library using built-in assumptions based primarily on comparisons of plant dimensions, geographic area sampled and seral stage sampled for input data and prediction equations. Alternatively, a user can direct the program to search a specific subset of the equation library or use a particular equation for particular input data. In this manner, equations from other species may be used for species in the data for which equations are unavailable.
BIOPAK produces reports formatted for people and machine-readable files for use by other software such as graphics, statistics and database programs. Other reports document the design of a computation run and the equations used. It has application in ecosystem studies for calculating biomass allocation, productivity and leaf area; in wildlife and entomology studies for calculating foliage area, and browse (e.g., foliage + small twigs), fruit and inflorescence mass; and fire management for calculating fuels of live plants by size classes.
BIOPAK requires a library of equations: all calculations are made using equations in this library. The software includes a library of over 1100 prediction equations, most of which were developed in the Pacific Northwest of North America, including Southeast Alaska, northern Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This library includes equations from biomes ranging from temperate rain forest to desert. The Equation Library Editor can be used to modify this library. The user can use the Library Editor to build new equation libraries for other biomes and regions of the world using existing equations for those areas. The most recent update of the library can be downloaded separately as a zip file.
Use
Obtaining BIOPAK with Technical Support
BIOPAK software and manuals are distributed by the Forest Resources Systems Institute (FORS), a nonprofit organization that searches out and distributes software for forest-related applications. A fee of U.S. $50 is charged to cover costs of disks, duplication, distribution, and telephone support to answer user questions for a 60 day start up period. For people in countries with currency exchange problems, the fee is reduced to U.S. $25. FORS can be contacted at: Forest Resources Systems Institute, Inc. P.O. Box 1785 Clemson, SC 29633-1785 (864) 656-7723 Fax (864) 656-1320 http://www.forsonline.org(link is external)
Obtaining Software for Free
All BIOPAK programs and libraries are available for free on this web site, which is supported by the H.J. Andrews LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) in Corvallis, Oregon. Please register by filling out the form if you obtain BIOPAK this way! This will help justify its existence. If you have already registered and are just downloading updated software or libraries please fill in your name and affiliation so we know you have the current version, and fill in any changed contact information.
Release Notes
Current BIOPAK version is 2.50. Date of latest BIOPAK.ZIP on the web is 95/11/07 and it includes an updated equation library, BIOLIB10.*, dated 95/10/29. The current 96/03/15 version of FUELS.ZIP contains new versions of the paper describing estimation of fuel size classes and the fuel equation library as well as an expanded and cleaned FUELLIB4.* fuels library. The latest versions of these and all BIOPAK software will be available from the web page when you obtain BIOPAK.
Note: Biopak was developed under DOS and Windows 3.1 from 1988 to 1994. Some of the Biopak software does not work well under Windows 2000 [or probably Windows XP]. Problems have been noted with the library editor and computation engine. It is still possible under Windows 2000 to browse the equation library and find equations for potential use in your area.
Citation
Means, Joseph E., Heather A. Hansen, Greg J. Koerper, Paul B. Alaback, Mark W. Klopsch. 1994. Software for computing plant biomass--BIOPAK users guide. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-340. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 180 p. (Pub Number 1659) Means, Joseph E., Olga N. Krankina, Hao Jiang, and Hongyan Li. 1996. Estimating live fuels for shrubs and herbs with BIOPAK. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-372. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 21 p. (Pub Number 2176)