Forest Sciences Commons^™

Assessing Changing Carbon Pool Dynamics And Species Composition In A Pennsylvania Broadleaf Forest Fragment, Kyleigh Levinsky, Jessica L. Schedlbauer

Sustainability Research & Creative Activities Grants Reports

Temperate broadleaf forests are pivotal to the global carbon cycle, Representing 37% of the global forest carbon pool (Pan et al 2011). • Maintaining compositional diversity in temperate broadleaf forests, such as the Gordon Natural Area (GNA) is critical to maintaining ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration. • Pressures from native and non-native herbivores threaten the biodiversity of temperate broadleaf forests in the United States (Ghandi et al. 2010). The introduction of non-native insects such as the emerald ash borer (Argrilus planipennis), as well as the overpopulation of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has led to declines in some tree species. …

A Small Forest Owner's Engagement With A Carbon Sequestration Effort In Northeastern U.S., Frederick Pond

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

In 2023, a small forest landowner in central Vermont enrolled 140 acres in the Family Forest Carbon Program[FFCP], engaging his local forestland in combating global warming.

FFCP is a collaboration of The Nature Conservancy and American Forest Foundation, developed to offer small landowners the opportunity to engage their asset in carbon sequestration locally.

This poster presents the experience of a small forest owner's process in entering a twenty year contract to manage a small woodlot under the direction of FFCP while enrolled with the state UVA program, also known as Current Use.

Challenges to the process, advantages/downsides, future perspectives are …

Pasturelands As Natural Climate Solutions: A Socioecological Study Of Tree Carbon And Beef Production Trade-Offs, Bela Starinchak

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Forest restoration is the most effective natural climate solution, with the potential to sequester 37% of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) needed to reach the Paris climate mitigation goal. Cattle pastures offer an underutilized opportunity to increase global forest restoration efforts, improve biodiversity, and maximize carbon storage through the adoption of management strategies that prioritize the incorporation of trees into pasturelands. However, remote estimations of tree carbon storage in pastoral systems have never been field-verified and their accuracy is unclear. Furthermore, the effect of increased trees on cattle production is understudied across biomes. Lastly, the restoration potential of these …

Quantifying The Carbon Stored And Sequestered By The Trees On Pomona College’S Campus, Paola A. Giron-Carson

Scripps Senior Theses

We are experiencing a climate crisis that must be confronted with strategic mitigation. Pomona College contributes to the climate crisis through its emissions for which there is a baseline record. However there is no baseline record of the climate mitigation currently performed by the trees on Pomona’s campus through carbon storage. This study seeks to determine a current baseline quantity of carbon stored and sequestrated by Pomona’s trees as well as possible courses of climate mitigation for Pomona College to take. Initial information gathering was conducted through interviews with several stakeholders. This study was conducted using data collected prior to …

Using Lidar To Estimate Carbon Sequestration Of Evergreen Trees At Eastern Washington University (Ewu) Campus, Cheney, Washington, Kristy A. Snyder

2022 Symposium

EWU contains a variety of deciduous and evergreen trees across its campus, providing several benefits. However, no comprehensive record exists of the total number, location, species, or ages of these trees. This knowledge can inform facilities of proper care for individual trees and can be used to estimate carbon sequestration on campus. Traditional on-the-ground methods for assessing trees require tree cores or clinometers, making trees susceptible to pests or disease and leading to inaccurate results. Remote sensing using lidar data is a noninvasive, more precise method to measure tree height and subsequently assess tree age. This poster explores using point …

Frayed Connections: How Long-Term Nitrogen Additions Disrupt Plant-Soil Interactions And The Carbon Cycle Of A Temperate Forest, Brooke A. Eastman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Forests are expected to mitigate some of the negative effects of climate change by sequestering anthropogenic carbon (C) from the atmosphere, but the degree to which they drawn down C will depend on the availability of key nutrients, such as nitrogen (N). There is a fair amount of uncertainty in the future of the forest C sink, mostly owing to the fate of soil organic matter (SOM) and soil heterotrophic respiration to future conditions. In N limited systems, plants allocate a significant amount of their photosynthate belowground for the acquisition of nutrients, but under conditions of chronic N deposition, plants …

Planning For Future Fire: Scenario Analysis Of An Accelerated Fuel Reduction Plan For The Western United States, Alan A. Ager, Cody Evers, Michelle A. Day, Fermin J. Alcasena, Rachel Houtman

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recent fire seasons brought a new fire reality to the western US, and motivated federal agencies to explore scenarios for augmenting current fuel management and forest restoration in areas where fires might threaten critical resources and developed areas. To support this effort, we modeled the scheduling of an accelerated forest and fuel management scenario on 76 western US national forests. Specifically, we modeled a 10-year ramp up of current forest and fuel management that targeted the source of wildfire exposure to developed areas and simulated treatment in areas that accounted for 77% of the predicted exposure. We used a sample …

What Is Biochar And How Is It Used?, Marion Murray

All Current Publications

Biochar is a charcoal-like product that contains no petroleum. It is made by heating biomass such as herbaceous or woody crop residues, non-salvageable timber, and slash, or animal manure, in a contained system. There are many potential uses for biochar including water treatment, land reclamation, and carbon sequestration. Biochar may also be used as a soil amendment for two purposes – to improve plant health and to store carbon.

A Model Of Coppice Biomass Recovery For Mallee-Form Eucalypts, Kim Brooksbank, Adrian Goodwin Mr

Journal articles

Planting mallee-form eucalypts amongst crops has the potential to remedy environmental degradation caused by land clearing in low rainfall regions, whilst also providing income through carbon-sequestration or periodic coppicing. Management options can be supported by models of biomass and coppice recovery, and this paper presents the first empirical coppice growth model for mallee eucalypts.

Uncoppiced and coppiced belt-planted Eucalyptus polybractea, E. loxophleba and E. kochii were harvested and roots excavated to provide estimates of shoot and root biomass for analysis and model development. Allometric models of shoot biomass were appropriate for both uncoppiced and coppiced trees, but models of …

Functional Fingerprinting Estimates Renewal Opportunities For Tree Species In A Mixed Turkey Oak Forest, Éva Salamon Albert, Ágnes Csiszár, Dénes Bartha

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Maintaining and managing trees with different ecological plasticity under climate conditions aggravated by short-term variability are major challenges for foresters. Our aims were to investigate species-specific ecophysiological responses of canopy trees in a mixed Turkey oak forest during their early-phase regeneration. We measured plant carbon and water exchange with portable IRGA equipment under natural field conditions (canopy gap) and in a climate-controlled (standardized) environment. We analyzed variability and differences in plant gas exchange in relation to important abiotic site parameters and the species. Assimilation, stomatal conductance, and intrinsic water use were applied as calibrating parameters for plant functional fingerprinting to …

Informing Sustainable Urban Forestry Policy With Carbon Sequestration Analysis, Ellen Danford

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Urban forestry is an environmental solution for an increasingly city-centered world. The ecosystem services that trees provide in natural settings, including carbon sequestration, oxygen production and aesthetic beauty, also apply in urban settings. Every tree in the Western Kentucky University (WKU) urban forest provides these services and each tree was measured to determine how much carbon they sequestered a year on average between 2015 and 2020. With an interactive map of the forest and its carbon sequestration, the condition of the forest and change over the five year period was analyzed. Comparing the welfare of the forest with the plans …

Economics Of Afforestation: A Global Leadership Opportunity For Efd, Jeffrey R. Vincent

Forest Collaborative Research

Slides from a presentation that examines the economics of afforestation and forest restoration in light of climatic changes, rising CO₂ levels, carbon sequestration and other factors. Provides directions for further research, including retrospective analysis of previous afforestation projects, and targeted analysis of impediments to institutional investment in afforestation.

A Risk-Based Method For Estimating The Carbon Sequestration Budget For A Mixed Hardwood Forest, Erin Cooper

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) levels in the atmosphere have risen from approximately 310 ppm in the 1950’s to over 400 ppm as of 2015. This rise in CO₂ has likely resulted in the observed warming trend of the earth’s atmosphere in the same time frame, causing significant concern in the scientific community. Several mitigation strategies have arisen to combat the upward trend of CO₂ emissions in recent decades, among them being carbon sequestration- the process of capturing CO₂ from the atmosphere and holding it for an extended period of time. This study used the U.S. Forest …

Carbon Sequestration In The Cloud Forest: A Comparative Evaluation Of Aboveground Biomass Carbon Stock Potential In The Río Guajalito Reserve, Elli Mapstone

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere continue to rise at a rapid rate, it is necessary to understand how forests can both contribute to CO₂ levels but also stop them from rising. Carbon sequestration levels in tropical montane cloud forests are a relatively understudied topic. Gathering carbon stock levels is the first step necessary to start a REDD+ project. Carbon stock levels can be studied on a global, regional or local level. This study used the University of Oxford/ Global Ecosystems Monitoring Network (GEM) methodology to examine carbon sequestration levels of aboveground biomass, specifically ground litter, large branches …

Eucalyptus In Kenya; Impacts On Environment And Society, Brandy M. Garrett Kluthe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eucalyptus trees were introduced to Kenya a little over a century ago. European colonization along with the development of a railway system increased the demand for a fast growing wood source. The expansion of the tree across the fertile lands in Kenya raises concerns about the environmental impact on ecosystems where it has been introduced. These concerns include degraded soils, loss of water resources, co-introduction of ectomycorrhizal species, and allelopathy. Economic benefits to local landowners were also explored as well as the potential for large Eucalyptus woodlots to maximize the sequestration of CO₂ from the atmosphere. This was examined through …

A Method For Estimating The Current And Future Carbon Content Of Standing Biomass Applied To Gishwati Forest Reserve, Rwanda, David Courard-Houri, Rebecca Chancellor, Aaron S. Rundus, A. Boland

Anthropology & Sociology Faculty Publications

The carbon content of standing tree biomass was determined in the Gishwati Forest Reserve in north-western Rwanda and growth potential of the forest was estimated using a straightforward, generalisable model of natural forest regeneration. A survey was conducted on 2289 trees in plots throughout the reserve. Wood density data were obtained from literature and tree biomass was estimated using a recent pan-tropical allometric equation. A survey on United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects showed that current methods of growth rate projection for mixed, non-plantation forests might significantly overestimate the amount of carbon sequestered. …

Carbon Storage Potential Of Windbreaks On Agricultural Lands Of The Continental United States, William Ballesteros Possu

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Agricultural production systems face major challenges under climate change scenarios in terms of expected negative impacts on productivity and persistence of the crops. Greenhouse gases from agriculture continue to rise although not as fast as from other fossil fuel-based human activities. Windbreaks perform several ecosystems functions that improve the local and regional capacity of crop systems to increase yields and offer environmental services by minimizing the negative effects of extreme weather events. Windbreaks also represent an important means of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. This is predominantly accomplished by the windbreak trees storing carbon (C) in their above and belowground woody …

Growth, Biomass, Carbon Stocks, And Sequestration In An Age Series Of Populus Deltoides Plantations In Tarai Region Of Central Himalaya, Gurveen Arora, Sumit Chaturvedi, Rajesh Kaushal, Ajeet Nain, Salil Tewari, Nurnabi Meherul Alam, Om Prakash Chaturvedi

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Growth, biomass, carbon storage, and carbon sequestration potential along an age series in Populus deltoides plantations were assessed. The growth rate of diameter at breast height and height was higher in trees of 4 to 7 years and 2 to 5 years, respectively. The total aboveground biomass (AGB) increased with age and reached its maximum (180.2 Mg ha^{-1}) at 11 years of age. Mean carbon concentration in aboveground components varied from 39.7% to 51.7%. Allometric equations were developed to estimate biomass and biomass carbon in different tree components, which had adjusted R squares greater than 94%. Aboveground carbon stocks in …

Climate Change And North American Rangelands: Assessment Of Mitigation And Adaptation Strategies, Linda A. Joyce, David D. Briske, Joel R. Brown, H. Wayne Polley, Bruce A. Mccarl, Derek W. Bailey

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Recent climatic trends and climate model projections indicate that climate change will modify rangeland ecosystem functions and the services and livelihoods that they provision. Recent history has demonstrated that climatic variability has a strong influence on both ecological and social components of rangeland systems and that these systems possess substantial capacity to adapt to climatic variability. Specific objectives of this synthesis are to: 1) evaluate options to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and future climate change; 2) survey actions that individuals, enterprises, and social organizations can use to adapt to climate change; and 3) assess options for system transformation when adaptation …

Perdido En La Cadena: Un Análisis Del Impacto Económico Y Ambiental De Cajas De Embalaje En Baños, Ecuador, Zhang Yuan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La cuestión del calentamiento de la atmósfera causa de la pérdida del carbono de la biomasa está una preocupación a nivel mundial. Con la emisión de CO2 por la combustión de los combustibles fósiles, la temperatura ha subido aproximadamente 0.16 °C desde 1990 hasta 2000. El bosque, por otra parte, sirve como un tranque y el regulador de carbono mediante el intercambio de carbono entre la atmósfera y biosfera. Sin embargo, varios usos antropogénicos del bosque ha causado la desaparición de árboles y la gran pérdida de carbono de la biomasa global. Para medir la pérdida de carbono causada por …

Divergent Carbon Dynamics Under Climate Change In Forests With Diverse Soils, Tree Species, And Land Use Histories, Robert M. Scheller, Alec M. Kretchun, Steve Van Tuyl, Kenneth L. Clark, Melissa S. Lucash, John Hom

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Accounting for both climate change and natural disturbances—which typically result in greenhouse gas emissions—is necessary to begin managing forest carbon sequestration. Gaining a complete understanding of forest carbon dynamics is, however, challenging in systems characterized by historic over-utilization, diverse soils and tree species, and frequent disturbance. In order to elucidate the cascading effects of potential climate change on such systems, we projected forest carbon dynamics, including soil carbon changes, and shifts in tree species composition as a consequence of wildfires and climate change in the New Jersey pine barrens (NJPB) over the next 100 years. To do so, we used …

Agenda: A Low-Carbon Energy Blueprint For The American West, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center, University Of Colorado Boulder. Renewable And Sustainable Energy Institute, Western Resource Advocates, Rocky Mountain Research Station (Fort Collins, Colo.)

A Low-Carbon Energy Blueprint for the American West (Martz Summer Conference, June 6-8)

The future of the planet may depend upon our ability to increase energy supplies even as we reduce carbon emissions. This conference will address how a low-carbon energy program might evolve with a particular focus on the American West. It will focus on the future of energy in the West--on a “managed transition” to a different energy mix, on the need to nest this effort in a framework that acknowledges interconnections, and on identifying the most salient opportunities to consider the legal, political, financial, and technical challenges.

A Five-Year Analysis Of Carbon Stock Plots In The Gordon Natural Area’S Big Woods, Cathy Spahr, Chad Hudson, Andy Tamez

Forest Carbon Storage Study Documents

No abstract provided.

Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Meredith Fairbanks, David Bowran, Geraldine Pasqual

Bulletins 4000 -

Agriculture contributes 15.5 per cent of Australia’s emissions (Figure 1), largely due to methane, from ruminant livestock digestion, nitrous oxide from soils and carbon dioxide from fossil fuel use (Australian National Greenhouse Accounts 2011; ABARES 2011).

This bulletin identifies current ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Australian agriculture.

The Influence Of Land Use And Climate Change On Forest Biomass And Composition In Massachusetts, Usa, Jonathan R. Thompson, David R. Foster, Robert M. Scheller, David Kittridge

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Land use and climate change have complex and interacting effects on naturally dynamic forest landscapes. To anticipate and adapt to these changes, it is necessary to understand their individual and aggregate impacts on forest growth and composition. We conducted a simulation experiment to evaluate regional forest change in Massachusetts, USA over the next 50 years (2010–2060). Our objective was to estimate, assuming a linear continuation of recent trends, the relative and interactive influence of continued growth and succession, climate change, forest conversion to developed uses, and timber harvest on live aboveground biomass (AGB) and tree species composition. We examined 20 …

Slides: Climate Change Adaptation And The Federal Lands, Robert L. Glicksman

The Past, Present, and Future of Our Public Lands: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Public Land Law Review Commission’s Report, One Third of the Nation’s Land (Martz Summer Conference, June 2-4)

Presenter: Robert L. Glicksman, J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law, George Washington University Law School (Washington, D.C.)

12 slides

Slides: Celebrating Flpma: Land Use Planning At The Blm, Marcilynn Burke

The Past, Present, and Future of Our Public Lands: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Public Land Law Review Commission’s Report, One Third of the Nation’s Land (Martz Summer Conference, June 2-4)

Presenter: Marcilynn Burke, BLM Deputy Director - Programs and Policy, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, (Washington, D.C.)

30 slides

Agroforestry: Working Trees For Sequestering Carbon On Agricultural Lands, Michele M. Schoeneberger

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Agroforestry is an appealing option for sequestering carbon on agricultural lands because it can sequester significant amounts of carbon while leaving the bulk of the land in agricultural production. Simultaneously, it can help landowners and society address many other issues facing these lands, such as economic diversification, biodiversity, and water quality. Nonetheless, agroforestry remains under-recognized as a greenhouse gas mitigation option for agriculture in the US. Reasons for this include the limited information base and number of tools agroforestry can currently offer as compared to that produced from the decades-worth of investment in agriculture and forestry, and agroforestry’s cross-cutting nature …

The Effect Of Carbon Revenues On The Rotation And Profitability Of Loblolly Pine Plantations In East Texas, Ching Hsun Huang, Gary D. Kronrad

Faculty Publications

This study determined the profitability and financially optimal thinning and final harvest rotation of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) managed exclusively for timber production or for dual products of timber production and carbon sequestration. The results suggest that 1) depending on landowner’s alternative rate of return, the inclusion of carbon revenues in forest management may shorten or prolong the optimal timber-carbon rotation length, compared to the optimal rotation that maximizes timber value only; 2) the effect of carbon revenues on the optimal rotation length and the percentage gain in soil expectation value is larger on low-productivity sites than on high-productivity sites, …

Agroforestry-Working Trees For Sequestering Carbon On Ag-Lands, Michele M. Schoeneberger

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Agroforestry is an appealing option for sequestering carbon on agricultural lands because it can sequester significant amounts of carbon while leaving the bulk of the land in agricultural production. Simultaneously, it can help landowners and society address many other issues, such as economic diversification, biodiversity, and water quality, facing these lands. Nonetheless, agroforestry remains under-recognized as a greenhouse gas mitigation option for agriculture in the US. Reasons for this include the limited information base and tools agroforestry can currently offer compared to the decade’s worth of investment in agriculture and forestry, and to agroforestry’s cross-cutting nature that puts it at …