scholarly journals From Farms to Forests: Landscape Carbon Balance after 50 Years of Afforestation, Harvesting, and Prescribed Fire

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 760 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doug P. Aubrey ◽  
John I. Blake ◽  
Stan J. Zarnoch
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Carbon Balance ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Mineral Soil ◽  
Forest Biomass ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
Carbon Accumulation ◽  
Forest Inventories

Establishing reliable carbon baselines for landowners desiring to sustain carbon sequestration and identify opportunities to mitigate land management impacts on carbon balance is important; however, national and regional assessments are not designed to support individual landowners. Such baselines become increasingly valuable when landowners convert land use, change management, or when disturbance occurs. We used forest inventories to quantify carbon stocks, estimate annual carbon fluxes, and determine net biome production (NBP) over a 50-year period coinciding with a massive afforestation effort across ~80,000 ha of land in the South Carolina Coastal Plain. Forested land increased from 48,714 ha to 73,824 ha between 1951 and 2001. Total forest biomass increased from 1.73–3.03 Gg to 17.8–18.3 Gg, corresponding to biomass density increases from 35.6–62.2 Mg ha−1 to 231.4–240.0 Mg ha−1. Harvesting removed 1340.3 Gg C between 1955 and 2001, but annual removals were variable. Fire consumed 527.1 Gg C between 1952 and 2001. Carbon exported by streams was <0.5% of total export. Carbon from roots and other harvested material that remained in-use or in landfills comprised 49.3% of total harvested carbon. Mineral soil carbon accounted for 41.6 to 50% of 2001 carbon stocks when considering depths of 1.0 or 1.5 m, respectively, and was disproportionately concentrated in wetlands. Moreover, we identified a soil carbon deficit of 19–20 Mg C ha−1, suggesting opportunities for future soil carbon sequestration in post-agricultural soils. Our results provide a robust baseline for this site that can be used to understand how land conversion, forest management, and disturbance impacts carbon balance of this landscape and highlight the value of these baseline data for other sites. Our work also identifies the need to manage forests for multiple purposes, especially promotion of soil carbon accumulation in low-density pine savannas that are managed for red-cockaded woodpeckers and therefore demand low aboveground carbon stocks.

scholarly journals DINÂMICA E BALANÇO DO CARBONO DA VEGETAÇÃO PRIMÁRIA DA AMAZÔNIA CENTRAL

FLORESTA ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niro Higuchi ◽  
Jeffrey Chambers ◽  
Joaquim Dos Santos ◽  
Ralfh João Ribeiro ◽  
Alberto Carlos Martins Pinto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
Forest Inventory ◽  
Carbon Balance ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Forest Biomass ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Carbon Accumulation ◽  
La Niña ◽  
La Nina ◽  
Management Project

As três parcelas permanentes usadas neste estudo são testemunhas (não perturbadas) de um experimento de manejo florestal do Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, no município de Manaus (AM). Essas parcelas têm sido monitoradas desde 1980, mas para efeito deste estudo, foram consideradas 12 medições repetidas no período 1986-2000. Durante este período, o fenômeno El Niño (seca anormal na região) ocorreu em duas ocasiões, em 1992-93 e 1997-98, sendo que o último foi seguido do La Niña (chuva anormal na região), em 1999. Devido a esses fenômenos, as taxas de recrutamento e mortalidade foram iguais, 0,7%, durante o período observado. No entanto, a acumulação (fixação na árvore) de carbono, foi de 16 toneladas métricas, dando um incremento periódico anual significativo (p = 0,039), em torno de 1,2 t/ha/ano. CARBON BALANCE AND DYNAMICS OF PRIMARY VEGETATION IN THE CENTRAL AMAZON Abstract The three permanent forest inventory plots used for this study were control plots (not disturbed) from a forest management project of the National Institute of Amazon Research (INPA) in the Brazilian State of Amazonas. These plots have been monitored since 1980, although for this study the period from 1986-2000 was considered. During this period, the El Niño phenomenon, which causes increased drought in the region, occurred on two occasions (1992-93 and 1997-98), followed by La Niña which causes increased precipitation in the region (1999-2000). Despite of this change in climate, recruitment and mortality rates were equal throughout the period at 0.7% yr-1. During the same period, carbon accumulation in forest biomass was 16 Mg, resulting in a statistically significant (p = 0.039) increase of about 1.2 Mg biomass ha-1 yr-1.

scholarly journals Brazilian Mangroves: Blue Carbon Hotspots of National and Global Relevance to Natural Climate Solutions

2022 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andre S. Rovai ◽  
Robert R. Twilley ◽  
Thomas A. Worthington ◽  
Pablo Riul
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
National Level ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Woody Biomass ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
Blue Carbon ◽  
Carbon Accumulation ◽  
Amazon Forest ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
Natural Climate

Mangroves are known for large carbon stocks and high sequestration rates in biomass and soils, making these intertidal wetlands a cost-effective strategy for some nations to compensate for a portion of their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. However, few countries have the national-level inventories required to support the inclusion of mangroves into national carbon credit markets. This is the case for Brazil, home of the second largest mangrove area in the world but lacking an integrated mangrove carbon inventory that captures the diversity of coastline types and climatic zones in which mangroves are present. Here we reviewed published datasets to derive the first integrated assessment of carbon stocks, carbon sequestration rates and potential CO2eq emissions across Brazilian mangroves. We found that Brazilian mangroves hold 8.5% of the global mangrove carbon stocks (biomass and soils combined). When compared to other Brazilian vegetated biomes, mangroves store up to 4.3 times more carbon in the top meter of soil and are second in biomass carbon stocks only to the Amazon forest. Moreover, organic carbon sequestration rates in Brazilian mangroves soils are 15–30% higher than recent global estimates; and integrated over the country’s area, they account for 13.5% of the carbon buried in world’s mangroves annually. Carbon sequestration in Brazilian mangroves woody biomass is 10% of carbon accumulation in mangrove woody biomass globally. Our study identifies Brazilian mangroves as a major global blue carbon hotspot and suggest that their loss could potentially release substantial amounts of CO2. This research provides a robust baseline for the consideration of mangroves into strategies to meet Brazil’s intended Nationally Determined Contributions.

scholarly journals Forests: Carbon sequestration, biomass energy, or both?

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (13) ◽  
pp. eaay6792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Favero ◽  
Adam Daigneault ◽  
Brent Sohngen
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Carbon Balance ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
Forest Carbon ◽  
Biomass Energy ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Intensive Management ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Timber Management ◽  
Forest Carbon Sequestration

There is a continuing debate over the role that woody bioenergy plays in climate mitigation. This paper clarifies this controversy and illustrates the impacts of woody biomass demand on forest harvests, prices, timber management investments and intensity, forest area, and the resulting carbon balance under different climate mitigation policies. Increased bioenergy demand increases forest carbon stocks thanks to afforestation activities and more intensive management relative to a no-bioenergy case. Some natural forests, however, are converted to more intensive management, with potential biodiversity losses. Incentivizing both wood-based bioenergy and forest sequestration could increase carbon sequestration and conserve natural forests simultaneously. We conclude that the expanded use of wood for bioenergy will result in net carbon benefits, but an efficient policy also needs to regulate forest carbon sequestration.

scholarly journals Soils apart from equilibrium – consequences for soil carbon balance modelling

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Wutzler ◽  
M. Reichstein
Keyword(s):  
Decay Rate ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Carbon Fixation ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Transient State ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
Carbon Accumulation ◽  
Forest Site ◽  
Small Current ◽  
Soil Carbon Stocks

Abstract. Many projections of the soil carbon sink or source are based on kinetically defined carbon pool models. Para\\-meters of these models are often determined in a way that the steady state of the model matches observed carbon stocks. The underlying simplifying assumption is that observed carbon stocks are near equilibrium. This assumption is challenged by observations of very old soils that do still accumulate carbon. In this modelling study we explored the consequences of the case where soils are apart from equilibrium. Calculation of equilibrium states of soils that are currently accumulating small amounts of carbon were performed using the Yasso model. It was found that already very small current accumulation rates cause big changes in theoretical equilibrium stocks, which can virtually approach infinity. We conclude that soils that have been disturbed several centuries ago are not in equilibrium but in a transient state because of the slowly ongoing accumulation of the slowest pool. A first consequence is that model calibrations to current carbon stocks that assume equilibrium state, overestimate the decay rate of the slowest pool. A second consequence is that spin-up runs (simulations until equilibrium) overestimate stocks of recently disturbed sites. In order to account for these consequences, we propose a transient correction. This correction prescribes a lower decay rate of the slowest pool and accounts for disturbances in the past by decreasing the spin-up-run predicted stocks to match an independent estimate of current soil carbon stocks. Application of this transient correction at a Central European beech forest site with a typical disturbance history resulted in an additional carbon fixation of 5.7±1.5 tC/ha within 100 years. Carbon storage capacity of disturbed forest soils is potentially much higher than currently assumed. Simulations that do not adequately account for the transient state of soil carbon stocks neglect a considerable amount of current carbon accumulation.

scholarly journals Allocation pattern and accumulation potential of carbon stock in natural spruce forests in northwest China

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun-Wei Yue ◽  
Jin-Hong Guan ◽  
Lei Deng ◽  
Jian-Guo Zhang ◽  
Guoqing Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Fine Roots ◽  
Carbon Stock ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Spruce Forests ◽  
Accumulation Potential

Background The spruce forests are dominant communities in northwest China, and play a key role in national carbon budgets. However, the patterns of carbon stock distribution and accumulation potential across stand ages are poorly documented. Methods We investigated the carbon stocks in biomass and soil in the natural spruce forests in the region by surveys on 39 plots. Biomass of tree components were estimated using allometric equations previously established based on tree height and diameter at breast height, while biomass in understory (shrub and herb) and forest floor were determined by total harvesting method. Fine root biomass was estimated by soil coring technique. Carbon stocks in various biomass components and soil (0–100 cm) were estimated by analyzing the carbon content of each component. Results The results showed that carbon stock in these forest ecosystems can be as high as 510.1 t ha−1, with an average of 449.4 t ha−1. Carbon stock ranged from 28.1 to 93.9 t ha−1 and from 0.6 to 8.7 t ha−1 with stand ages in trees and deadwoods, respectively. The proportion of shrubs, herbs, fine roots, litter and deadwoods ranged from 0.1% to 1% of the total ecosystem carbon, and was age-independent. Fine roots and deadwood which contribute to about 2% of the biomass carbon should be attached considerable weight in the investigation of natural forests. Soil carbon stock did not show a changing trend with stand age, ranging from 254.2 to 420.0 t ha−1 with an average of 358.7 t ha−1. The average value of carbon sequestration potential for these forests was estimated as 29.4 t ha−1, with the lower aged ones being the dominant contributor. The maximum carbon sequestration rate was 2.47 t ha−1 year−1 appearing in the growth stage of 37–56 years. Conclusion The carbon stock in biomass was the major contributor to the increment of carbon stock in ecosystems. Stand age is not a good predictor of soil carbon stocks and accurate evaluation of the soil carbon dynamics thus requires long-term monitoring in situ. The results not only revealed carbon stock status and dynamics in these natural forests but were helpful to understand the role of Natural Forest Protection project in forest carbon sequestration as well.

Does soil disturbance result in soil carbon losses? – A case study on bioturbation effects of wild boar

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Axel Don ◽  
Christina Hagen ◽  
Erik Grüneberg ◽  
Cora Vos
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Wild Boar ◽  
Forest Floor ◽  
Mineral Soil ◽  
Soil Disturbance ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
No Tillage ◽  
Carbon Turnover

&lt;p&gt;Soil disturbance and disruption is assumed to enhance mineralisation and cause losses of soil organic carbon. Therefore, no tillage is promoted as soil carbon sequestration measure. However, the experimental evidence of enhanced carbon turnover due to soil disturbance is rare.&amp;#160; We investigated soil disturbance in forest ecosystems with simulated bioturbation of wild boar. Wild boar are effective at mixing and grubbing in the soil and wild boar populations are increasing dramatically in many parts of the world. In a six-year field study, we investigated the effect of wild boar bioturbation on the stocks and stability of soil organic carbon in two forest areas at 23 plots. The organic layer and mineral soil down to 15 cm depth were sampled in the disturbed plots and adjacent undisturbed reference plots.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;No significant changes in soil organic carbon stocks were detected in the bioturbation plots compared with non-disturbed reference plots. However, around 50% of forest floor carbon was transferred with bioturbation to mineral soil carbon and the stock of stabilised mineral-associated carbon increased by 28%. Thus, a large proportion of the labile carbon in the forest floor was transformed into more stable carbon. Carbon saturation of mineral surfaces was not detected, but carbon loading per unit mineral surface increased by on average 66% due to bioturbation. This indicates that mineral forest soils have non-used capacity to stabilise and store more carbon.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our results indicate that soil disturbance and bioturbation alone does not affect soil carbon turnover and stocks, but only change the distribution of carbon in the soil profile. This is in line with results from no-tillage experiments. The prevailing effect is a redistribution of carbon in the soil profile with no changes in total soil carbon stocks. We discuss these findings in the light of soils as potential sinks for carbon.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;

Land-use change and climate change mitigation potential of agricultural soils in Finland

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Tupek ◽  
Aleksi Lehtonen ◽  
Raisa Mäkipää ◽  
Pirjo Peltonen-Sainio ◽  
Saija Huuskonen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Carbon Balance ◽  
Carbon Stock ◽  
Total Carbon ◽  
Litter Input ◽  
Spruce Stands ◽  
Woody Litter

&lt;p&gt;We aimed to estimate a nation-wide potential to improve the carbon balance of the land use sector by removing part of the current croplands on mineral soil from food and feed production to extensive grasslands or afforestation in Finland. &amp;#160;We combined the existing data on forest and agricultural production, and climate with predictive capacity of YASSO07 soil carbon model to estimate changes of soil carbon stock (SOC) in Finland over the past land use change (LUC) from forest to agriculture in comparison with alternative LUC or continuous agriculture in future.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The model analysis revealed that SOC loss after deforestation during the cultivation period originated mainly from the absence of woody litter input. The non-woody litter input of the forest was comparable to that of the agricultural residues thus the SOC originating from non-woody litter has not changed much during cultivation. The model estimated approximately a 30 year delay in positive soil carbon balance after the afforestation. Longer for Norway spruce than for the Pubescent birch. The comparison of two dominant tree species used for afforestation highlighted a difference in soil versus biomass carbon sequestration. The total forest biomass production and total carbon stock was larger for spruce stands than for birch stands. However, due to larger foliar and fineroot litter input birch stands sequestered more carbon into the soil than spruce stands. The analysis further revealed that extensification of cropland to grassland would not meet 4 per mill soil carbon sequestration criterion needed for achieving Paris climate CO2 reduction target and due to the spatial limitation of afforestation other management measures need to be considered e.g. adding biochar to soils for successful and more permanent CO2 offsetting.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Carbon Sequestration in Broad Leaved Forests of Mid-Hills of Nepal: A Case Study from Palpa District

1970 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 20-29
Author(s):  
Bishnu P Shrestha
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Forest Biomass ◽  
Total Carbon ◽  
Total Biomass ◽  
Biomass Carbon ◽  
Deep Soil ◽  
Below Ground ◽  
Shallow Soils

This study was carried out to quantify total carbon sequestration in two broad leaved forests (Shorea and Schima-Castanopsis forests) of Palpa district. The inventory for estimating above and below ground biomass of forest was carried out using stratified random sampling. Biomass was calculated using allometric models. Soil samples were taken from soil profile upto 1 m depth for deep soil and up to bed rock for shallow soils at the interval of 20 cm. Walkey and Black method were applied for measuring soil organic carbon. Total biomass carbon in Shorea and Schima-Castanopsis forest was found 101.66 and 44.43 t ha-1 respectively. Soil carbon sequestration in Schima-Castanopsis and Shorea forest was found 130.76 and 126.07 t ha-1 respectively. Total carbon sequestration in Shorea forest was found 1.29 times higher than Schima-Castanopsis forest. The study found that forest types play an important role on total carbon sequestration. Key Words: Carbon sequestration, Shorea forest, Schima-Castanopsis forest, Biomass carbon, Soil carbon DOI: 10.3126/init.v3i0.2424 The Initiation Vol.3 2009 p.20-29

scholarly journals Soils apart from equilibrium – consequences for soil carbon balance modelling

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 1679-1714 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Wutzler ◽  
M. Reichstein
Keyword(s):  
Decay Rate ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Carbon Fixation ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Transient State ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
Carbon Accumulation ◽  
Forest Site ◽  
Small Current ◽  
Soil Carbon Stocks

Abstract. Many projections of the soil carbon sink or source are based on kinetically defined carbon pool models. Parameters of these models are often determined in a way that the steady state of the model matches observed carbon stocks. The underlying simplifying assumption is that observed carbon stocks are near equilibrium. This assumption is challenged by observations of very old soils that do still accumulate carbon. In this modelling study we explored the consequences of the case where soils are apart from equilibrium. Calculation of equilibrium states of soils that are currently accumulating small amounts of carbon were performed using the Yasso model. It was found that already very small current accumulation rates cause big changes in theoretical equilibrium stocks, which can virtually approach infinity. We conclude that soils that have been disturbed several centuries ago are not in equilibrium but in a transient state because of the slowly ongoing accumulation of the slowest pool. A first consequence is that model calibrations to current carbon stocks that assume equilibrium state, overestimate the decay rate of the slowest pool. A second consequence is that spin-up runs (simulations until equilibrium) overestimate stocks of recently disturbed sites. In order to account for these consequences, we propose a transient correction. This correction prescribes a lower decay rate of the slowest pool and accounts for disturbances in the past by decreasing the spin-up-run predicted stocks to match an independent estimate of current soil carbon stocks. Application of this transient correction at a Central European beech forest site with a typical disturbance history resulted in an additional carbon fixation of 5.7±1.5 tC/ha within 100 years. Carbon storage capacity of forest soils is potentially much higher than currently assumed. Simulations that do not adequately account for the transient state of soil carbon stocks neglect a substantial amount of current carbon accumulation.

Potential agricultural soil carbon sequestration across Europe: a reality check

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonor Rodrigues ◽  
Brieuc Hardy ◽  
Bruno Huyghebaert ◽  
Jens Leifeld
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Soil Carbon Sequestration ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Reality Check

&lt;p&gt;To meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting average global warming to less than 1.5&amp;#176;C above pre-industrial temperatures, European Union (EU) aims to reduce by 40% its domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and in the longer term to become the world&amp;#8217;s first climate-neutral economy by 2050 (&amp;#8220;Green Deal&amp;#8221;). Today, 10% of the European GHG emissions derive directly from agriculture, and measures to decrease or compensate these emissions are required for achieving climatic goals. The role of soils in the global carbon cycle and the importance of reducing GHG emissions from agriculture has been increasingly acknowledged (IPCC, 2018, EEA report 2019). The &amp;#8220;4 per 1000&amp;#8221; initiative (4p1000) has become a prominent model for mitigating climate change and securing food security through an annual increase in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks by 0.4 %, or 4&amp;#8240; per year, in the first 0-40 cm of soil. However, the feasibility of the 4p1000 scenario and more generally the capacity of European countries to implement soil carbon sequestration (SCS) measures are highly uncertain.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As part of the EJP Soil project, we collected country-specific informationonon on the available knowledge and data of achievable carbon sequestration in mineral agricultural soils (cropland and grassland) across Europe, under various farming systems and pedo-climatic conditions. With this bottom-up approach, we provide a reality check on weather European countries are on track in relation to GHG reductions targets and the &amp;#8220;4p1000&amp;#8221; initiative. First results showed that the availability of datasets on SCS is heterogeneous across Europe. While northern Europe and central Europe is relatively well studied, references are lacking for parts of Southern, Southeaster and Western Europe. Further, this stocktake highlighted that the current country-based knowledge and engagement is still poor; very few countries have an idea on their national-wide achievable SCS potential. Nevertheless, national SCS potentials that were estimated for 13 countries support the view that SCS can contribute significantly to climate mitigation, covering from 1 to 28, 5 % of the domestic GHG emissions from the agricultural sector, which underpins the importance of further investigations.&lt;/p&gt;

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