The decomposition of wood and leaf of eight species in air atmosphere is examined by nonisothermal means with linear temperature programming, and a simple kinetic description is developed based on the experimental results and integral analysis method. The relation between the apparent activation energy E and preexponential factor A is analyzed, and it is found that the parameters E and A resulted from the variation of the species and the variation of model functions exhibit kinetic compensation effects. Quantitative and statistical criterion to distinguish between real and false compensation effects is discussed in detail. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.