Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) presence in the Great Basin is associated with an increase in fire frequency and size, likely due to increased spatial continuity of fine fuel biomass. Measurements of the extent and cover of cheatgrass are steadily improving, but the strength of the relationship between cover and aboveground biomass (AGB) is unclear. An allometric equation that can reliably convert cover to AGB of cheatgrass would allow for improved incorporation of regional estimates of cover into models of fire activity, carbon storage, and net primary productivity, all of which rely on biomass. We measured cover and AGB of cheatgrass at 60 locations in the north-central Great Basin and used these measurements to model the relationship. We found a strong, linear relationship between the percent cover and AGB, which was improved after square root transformation of both cover and AGB, and after incorporating the number of days after peak NDVI that the biomass and cover were measured. These results show that AGB of cheatgrass can be reliably estimated from cover. It is likely that allometric equations based on cover will be effective for other grass species, but care must be taken to account for phenology (e.g., peak NDVI) in the estimation.

欺骗草（Bromus tectorumL.) 大盆地的存在与火灾频率和规模的增加有关，这可能是由于精细燃料生物质的空间连续性增加。对小草范围和覆盖度的测量正在稳步提高，但覆盖度与地上生物量 (AGB) 之间关系的强度尚不清楚。一个能够可靠地将覆盖率转换为 AGB 的异速生长方程将允许改进将覆盖率的区域估计纳入火灾活动、碳储存和净初级生产力模型中，所有这些模型都依赖于生物量。我们在大盆地中北部的 60 个地点测量了欺骗草的覆盖率和 AGB，并使用这些测量值来模拟这种关系。我们发现覆盖率和 AGB 之间存在很强的线性关系，在覆盖度和 AGB 的平方根转换后，以及在纳入测量生物量和覆盖度的峰值 NDVI 后的天数后，该指标得到改善。这些结果表明可以从覆盖中可靠地估计作曲草的 AGB。基于覆盖率的异速生长方程可能对其他草种有效，但在估计中必须注意物候（例如峰值 NDVI）。