简介：Background:Europeanforestsareconsideredacrucialresourceforsupplyingbiomasstoagrowingbio-economyinEurope.ThisstudyaimedtoassessthepotentialavailabilityofforestbiomassfromEuropeanforestsanditsspatialdistribution.Wetriedtoanswerthequestions(i)howisthepotentialforestbiomassavailabilityspatiallydistributedacrossEuropeand(ii)wherearehotspotsofpotentialforestbiomassavailabilitylocated?Methods:Thespatialdistributionofwoodybiomasspotentialswasassessedfor2020forstemwood,residues(branchesandharvestlosses)andstumpsfor39Europeancountries.UsingtheEuropeanForestInformationSCENario(EFISCEN)modelandinternationalforeststatistics,weestimatedthetheoreticalamountofbiomassthatcouldbeavailablebasedonthecurrentandfuturedevelopmentoftheforestage-structure,growingstockandincrementandforestmanagementregimes.Wecombinedtheseestimateswithasetofenvironmental(siteproductivity,soilandwaterprotectionandbiodiversityprotection)andtechnical(recoveryrate,soilbearingcapacity)constraints,whichreducedtheamountofwoodybiomassthatcouldpotentiallybeavailable.Wemappedthepotentialbiomassavailabilityatthelevelofadministrativeunitsandatthe10km×10kmgridleveltogaininsightintothespatialdistributionofthewoodybiomasspotentials.Results:Accordingtoourresults,thetotalavailabilityofforestbiomassrangesbetween357and551Tgdrymatterperyear.ThelargestpotentialsupplyofwoodybiomassperunitoflandcanbefoundinnorthernEurope(southernFinlandandSweden,EstoniaandLatvia),centralEurope(Austria,CzechRepublic,andsouthernGermany),Slovenia,southwestFranceandPortugal.However,largepartsofthesepotentialsarealreadyusedtoproducematerialsandenergy.Thedistributionofbiomasspotentialsthatarecurrentlyunusedonlypartiallycoincideswithregionsthatcurrentlyhavehighlevelsofwoodproduction.Conclusions:Ourstudyshowshowthefo