Effects of Biotic and Abiotic Factors on Biomass Conversion and Expansion Factors of Natural White Birch Forest (Betula platyphylla Suk.) in Northeast China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript is dedicated to study of effects of biotic and abiotic factors on biomass conversion and expansion factors of natural white birch forest on territory of Northeast China. The authors’ results are interesting and useful for future research of biomass. Research is well organized, however there are some suggestions which I would like to recommend authors in order to improve the quality of the manuscript before considering it for publication.
Lines 8, 332: "Eight" should be used instead of "8", especially if the authors themselves write "eight" later in the text.
Line 12: Missed space between factors and (BCEFs).
Line 22: Different spelling BCEFs through the text. Lower case “s” used in abstract, but in text used index.
Line 75: extra space before period.
Line 89: space missing in “regions[35, 37, 38]”.
Line 90. Authors Ordinary least square (OLS). Термин встречается только один раз в тексте Line 427. Зачем вводить аббревиатуру? The authors introduce an abbreviation for the Ordinary least square (OLS), but the term is used only once in the manuscript and the abbreviation is not used (Line 427). Also, different spelling “ordinary least-squares”.
Line 127: Please replace the term “permanent sample plots” with the abbreviation
Line 171: Please clarify what does index “i” in equation (1) mean.
Line 204: In the equation (3), the index J is not used. Did the authors mean index i?
Line 205: i-th
Line 219: Did the authors mean FMU? Please clarify that authors meant by ??M.
Table 7: Please clarify in the manuscript that parameter u1 means?
Figure 2: Can the red dashed line be made wider so that it can be seen better in the figure?
Figure 3. Please indicate in the figure what are the values on the Y axis? In the description of the picture, indicate what is shown in each graphs A, B, C, D, E. What is the difference between graphs D and E? Please explain why the values indicated in the legend for AHM, MAT, MAP are chosen?
Line 334: t0he
Line 346: Please clarify where information about BCEFs for Pakistan is from. No references about it are available in text.
Lines 385-388: Confusing sentence. Do the authors try to contrast opposite changes in proportions from changes (increase, decrease) in diameter? In both cases, the proportions "increased with decreasing diameter", then why use the preposition "but"? Does this explanation refer to the authors' study or already published papers by Teobaldelli et al., 2009 and Pajtik et al., 2008?
Line 371: Missing coma between B and C.
Line 398: Sorry, but I don't see "the humped-shaped manner" in Figure 3. In figure 3, there are no graphs with the MAT axis.
Line 425: Confusing sentence. Please, clarify what rthe epeated measurements were correlated with? Were they correlated each other?
Line 443: Missing space “performance[42]”.
Line 447: misspelled “should”
Lines 454 – 460: Better to move this part into Conclusions.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors,
I have reviewed the paper titled: “Effects of biotic and abiotic factors on biomass conversion and expansion factors of natural white birch forest (Betula platyphylla Suk.) in Northeast China". In my opinion, the aims of the paper are germane with “Forests” journal topic, in the present form, the paper fits with the international scientific standards. The paper is written with an acceptable English level. The contribution of this paper to the scientific knowledge is acceptable even if some flaws are still present in the text. I understand the difficult work done, but as a reviewer it is my duty to highlight the gaps in order to improve the research approach and its presentation to the international scientific community. Please I suggest revising the paper following the suggestions reported in the file attached.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The paper entitled “Effects of biotic and abiotic factors on biomass conversion and expansion factors of natural white birch forest (Betula platyphylla Suk.) in Northeast China” reflects the development of applied research, the topic is interesting and the manuscript has an approach innovative. However, the methods, results and discussion need to be improved. Thus, major changes are recommended.
Comments
1) Abstract – Please revise and improve.
2) Keywords – there are keywords that are already in the title. Please replace those words.
3) Lines 52-60 – Please explain better.
4) Figure 1 – The different study areas are not clear in the figure. Using one colour per study area could help.
5) Line 124 – “survey data” of forest inventory data.
6) Line 125 – “National Forest Survey” or National Forest Inventory?
7) Lines 129-135 – Please provide more information regarding the origin of the forest stands (naturel or artificial regeneration) and the silvicultural system (clearcut, shelterwood or selective)? This will enable the readers to understand better the data variability.
8) Lines 136-137 – how were this measurements made? In the field? With what equipment? Or from remote sensing data?
9) Table 1 – Dg is the dominant diameter? Check the correct definition and calculation formula.
10) Lines 150-153 – please provide reference for ClimateAP database.
11) Lines 169, 188, 190, 197, 198, 201, 202, 225, 226 – references are missing.
12) Lines 297-309 – please consider rewriting as text is not clear.
13) Figure 2 – include the name of the variable and units in the yy axis. In the figure caption include the meaning of the letter A to E)
14) Lines 339-460 the text needs structuring. It seems that the text starts discussing one issue than goes to other and then returns to the former issue.
15) Line – 348 – what do the authors mean by “unacceptable limit”?
16) Lines 352-356 – please explain better.
17) Lines 360-361, 397, 400-402, 427 – reference is missing.
18) Lines 373-380 – check English.
19) Lines 381—389 – needs further details.
20) Lines 399-404 – clarify and check English.
21) Lines 411-417 – could this be related to the branch and stem biomass?
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
The paper entitled “Effects of biotic and abiotic factors on biomass conversion and expansion factors of natural white birch forest (Betula platyphylla Suk.) in Northeast China” has improved in the second version of the manuscript. The authors revised the manuscript according to the suggestions. Thus, it is recommended to accept the manuscript.
