Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Accounting For Aboveground Carbon Storage In Shrubland And Woodland Ecosystems In The Great Basin, Emily J. Fusco, Benjamin M. Rau, Michael Falkowski, Steven Filippelli, Bethany A. Bradley

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Improving the accuracy of carbon accounting in terrestrial ecosystems is critical for understanding carbon fluxes associated with land cover change, with significant implications for global carbon cycling and climate change. Semi‐arid ecosystems account for an estimated 45% of global terrestrial ecosystem area and are in many locations experiencing high degrees of degradation. However, aboveground carbon accounting has largely focused on tropical and forested ecosystems, while drylands have been relatively neglected. Here, we used a combination of field estimates, remotely sensed data, and existing land cover maps to create a spatially explicit estimate of aboveground carbon storage within the Great Basin, …