Aboveground carbon accumulation by second-growth forests after deforestation in Hawai’i

Abstract Woody encroachment, including both woody species expansion and density increase, is a globally observed phenomenon that deteriorates arid and semi-arid rangeland health, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Mechanical and chemical control treatments are commonly performed to reduce woody cover and restore ecohydrologic function. While the immediate impacts of woody control treatments are well documented in short-term studies, treatment impacts at decadal scales are not commonly studied. Using a controlled herbicide treatment from 1954 in the Sierra Ancha Experimental Forest in central Arizona, USA, we quantify woody encroachment and associated aboveground carbon accumulation in treated and untreated watersheds. Woody encroachment and aboveground carbon are estimated using high resolution multispectral images and photogrammetric data from a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). We then combine the contemporary UAV image-derived estimates with historical records from immediately before and after the treatment to consider long-term trends in woody vegetation cover, aboveground carbon, water yield, and sedimentation. Our results indicate that the treatment has had a lasting impact. More than six decades later, woody cover in two treated watersheds are still significantly lower compared to two control watersheds, even though woody cover increased in all four drainages. Aboveground woody carbon in the treated watersheds is approximately one half that accumulated in the control watersheds. The historical records indicate that herbicide treatment also increased water yield and reduced annual sedimentation. Given the sustained reduction in woody cover and aboveground woody biomass in treated watersheds, we infer that the herbicide treatment has had similarly long lasting impacts on ecohydrological function. Land managers can consider legacy impacts from control treatments to better balance carbon and ecohydrological consequences of woody encroachment and treatment activities.

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Predicting Carbon Accumulation in Temperate Forests of Ontario, Canada Using a LiDAR-Initialized Growth-and-Yield Model

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12010201 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 201

Author(s):

Paulina T. Marczak ◽

Karin Y. Van Ewijk ◽

Paul M. Treitz ◽

Neal A. Scott ◽

Donald C.E. Robinson

Keyword(s):

Carbon Stock ◽

Temperate Forests ◽

Species Abundance ◽

Carbon Accumulation ◽

Growth And Yield ◽

Diameter Distribution ◽

Stem Density ◽

Yield Model ◽

Validation Data ◽

Aboveground Carbon

Climate warming has led to an urgent need for improved estimates of carbon accumulation in uneven-aged, mixed temperate forests, where high uncertainty remains. We investigated the feasibility of using LiDAR-derived forest attributes to initialize a growth and yield (G&Y) model in complex stands at the Petawawa Research Forest (PRF) in eastern Ontario, Canada; i.e., can G&Y models based on LiDAR provide accurate predictions of aboveground carbon accumulation in complex forests compared to traditional inventory-based estimates? Applying a local G&Y model, we forecasted aboveground carbon stock (tons/ha) and accumulation (tons/ha/yr) using recurring plot measurements from 2012–2016, FVS1. We applied statistical predictors derived from LiDAR to predict stem density (SD), stem diameter distribution (SDD), and basal area distribution (BA_dist). These data, along with measured species abundance, were used to initialize a second model (FVS2). A third model was tested using LiDAR-initialized tree lists and photo-interpreted estimates of species abundance (i.e., FVS3). The carbon stock projections for 2016 from the inventory-based G&Y model) were equivalent to validation carbon stocks measured in 2016 at all size-class levels (p < 0.05), while LiDAR-based G&Y models were not. None of the models were equivalent to validation data for accumulation (p > 0.05). At the plot level, LiDAR-based predictions of carbon accumulation over a nine-year period did not differ when using either inventory or photo-interpreted species (p < 0.05). Using a constant mortality rate, we also found statistical equivalency of inventory and photo-interpreted accumulation models for all size classes ≥17 cm. These results suggest that more precise information is needed on tree characteristics than we could derive from LiDAR, but that plot-level species information is not as critical for predictions of carbon accumulation in mixed-species forests. Further work is needed on the use of LiDAR to quantify stand properties before this technique can be used to replace recurring plot measurements to quantify carbon accumulation.

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Floristic Composition and Structure of a Deciduous Dry Forest from Southern Ecuador: Diversity and Aboveground Carbon Accumulation

International Journal of Current Research and Academic Review ◽

10.20546/ijcrar.2016.403.017 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 154-169 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Vinicio Carrion-Paladines ◽

Roberto Garcia-Ruiz

Keyword(s):

Floristic Composition ◽

Carbon Accumulation ◽

Dry Forest ◽

Aboveground Carbon ◽

Composition And Structure ◽

Southern Ecuador ◽

Deciduous Dry Forest

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Scale-dependence of aboveground carbon accumulation in secondary forests of Panama: A test of the intermediate peak hypothesis.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.714947807.790402817 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Richard Houghton

Keyword(s):

Scale Dependence ◽

Carbon Accumulation ◽

Secondary Forests ◽

Aboveground Carbon

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Scale-dependence of aboveground carbon accumulation in secondary forests of Panama: A test of the intermediate peak hypothesis

Forest Ecology and Management ◽

10.1016/j.foreco.2012.03.032 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 276 ◽

pp. 62-70 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Joseph Mascaro ◽

Gregory P. Asner ◽

Daisy H. Dent ◽

Saara J. DeWalt ◽

Julie S. Denslow

Keyword(s):

Scale Dependence ◽

Carbon Accumulation ◽

Secondary Forests ◽

Aboveground Carbon

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Brazilian Atlantic forest carbon stocks undergoing active restoration after bauxite mining exploration: an approach based on functional attributes

10.21203/rs.3.rs-20764/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Diego Balestrin ◽

Sebastião V Martins ◽

Pedro M Villa

Keyword(s):

Atlantic Forest ◽

Tree Species ◽

Carbon Stocks ◽

Brazilian Atlantic Forest ◽

Bauxite Mining ◽

Aboveground Carbon ◽

Functional Attributes ◽

Active Restoration ◽

Second Growth ◽

Mining Exploration

Abstract Background: Tropical forests are important carbon sinks at the global scale. They are important reservoirs of terrestrial carbon and play a fundamental role in global climate regulation. We evaluated the tree species diversity and dominance patterns in stem and carbon stocks in a Brazilian Atlantic forest restored after bauxite mining exploration in the state of Minas Gerais, south-eastern Brazil.Methods: Aboveground carbon was estimated for a permanent 1-ha forest restored after 14 years, measuring all trees with a circumference at breast height (CBH) ≥ 15 cm, planted during restoration. We studied species richness, community composition and stem- and carbon-dominant species based on two categorical functional attributes associated with forest regeneration (successional strategy and dispersal syndrome).Results: The restored forest obtained a high carbon accumulation (~58 Mg ha -1 ), between two and three times more than second-growth forests with the same or more time for natural regeneration, when compared with other restored Brazilian seasonal semideciduous Atlantic Forest stands. The restored forest presented a marked local carbon dominance, with ~7.5% of the tree species of the community representing 50% of the total aboveground carbon (AGC). Anemochoric and zoochoric species presented a similar pattern of carbon dominance, while the initial second-growth species presented a higher carbon storage capacity than the pioneer species.Conclusions: Our findings stress the importance of analysing the relative contributions of species, classified by functional attributes and by their dominance, to ecosystem functioning at fine-scale active restoration.

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