scholarly journals Carbon Storage in Coarse and Fine Fractions of Pacific Northwest Old-Growth Forest Soils

2004 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 2023-2030 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. S. Homann ◽  
S. M. Remillard ◽  
M. E. Harmon ◽  
B. T. Bormann
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Carbon Storage ◽  
Forest Soils ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Old Growth Forest

scholarly journals Older eastern white pine trees and stands sequester carbon for many decades and maximize cumulative carbon

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert T. Leverett ◽  
Susan A. Masino ◽  
William R. Moomaw
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Carbon Storage ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
White Pine ◽  
Eastern White Pine ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Old Growth Forest ◽  
Large Trees ◽  
Natural Climate

AbstractPre-settlement New England was heavily forested, with some trees exceeding 2 m in diameter. New England’s forests have regrown since farm abandonment and represent what is arguably the most successful regional reforestation on record; the region has recently been identified as part of the “Global Safety Net.” Remnants and groves of primary “old-growth” forest demonstrate that native tree species can live for hundreds of years and continue to add to the biomass and structural and ecological complexity of forests. Forests are an essential natural climate solution for accumulating and storing atmospheric CO2, and some studies emphasize young, fast-growing trees and forests whereas others highlight high carbon storage and accumulation rates in old trees and intact forests. To address this question directly within New England we leveraged long-term, accurate field measurements along with volume modeling of individual trees and intact stands of eastern white pines (Pinus strobus) and compared our results to models developed by the U.S. Forest Service. Our major findings complement, extend, and clarify previous findings and are three-fold: 1) intact eastern white pine forests continue to sequester carbon and store high cumulative carbon above ground; 2) large trees dominate above-ground carbon storage and can sequester significant amounts of carbon for hundreds of years; 3) productive pine stands can continue to sequester high amounts of carbon for well over 150 years. Because the next decades are critical in addressing the climate crisis, and the vast majority of New England forests are less than 100 years old, and can at least double their cumulative carbon, a major implication of this work is that maintaining and accumulating maximal carbon in existing forests – proforestation - is a powerful near-term regional climate solution. Furthermore, old and old-growth forests are rare, complex and highly dynamic and biodiverse, and dedication of some forests to proforestation will also protect natural selection, ecosystem integrity and full native biodiversity long-term. In sum, strategic policies that grow and protect existing forests in New England will optimize a proven, low cost, natural climate solution for meeting climate and biodiversity goals now and in the critical coming decades.

Stand structural diversity and species with leaf nitrogen conservative strategy drive aboveground carbon storage in tropical old-growth forests

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genzhu Wang ◽  
Yuguo Liu ◽  
Xiuqin Wu ◽  
Danbo Pang ◽  
Xiao Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Storage ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Structural Diversity ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Elevation Gradients ◽  
Niche Complementarity ◽  
Aboveground Carbon ◽  
Old Growth Forest ◽  
Stand Structural Diversity ◽  
Aboveground Carbon Storage

Abstract Background: Tropical old-growth forest ecosystems are essential for global carbon regulation. Even there are mounting evidences for the significance of species and functional composition, stand structure and elevation gradients on aboveground carbon storage, the relative strengths of these drivers and whether elevation effects via biotic factors are not clear. Furthermore, the mechanisms (the mass-ratio hypothesis or niche complementarity hypothesis) are still poorly understood. Methods: We analyzed aboveground carbon storage, species diversity, stand structural diversity, community-weighted mean (CWM) of functional traits and functional diversity (FDvar) using date from 56 old-growth forest communities with different elevation gradients in Dawei mountain of southwestern China. Multiple regression models were used to test the relative importance of the predictor variables and structural equation model was used to explore the direct and indirect influences on the aboveground carbon storage. Results: Our optimal multiple regression model show aboveground carbon storage is mostly affected by diameter at breast height (DBH) diversity, followed by FDvar of dry matter concentration in mature leaves and CWM nitrogen concentration in young leaves. The final structural equation model indicates elevation indirectly affected aboveground carbon storage via DBH diversity. The stand structural diversity, but not species diversity or functional diversity, enhanced aboveground carbon storage. Conclusions: Our results indicate mass-ratio and niche complementarity effect promote aboveground carbon storage simultaneously. The complex stand structure and species with leaf nitrogen conservative strategy were the crucial drivers of aboveground carbon storage in tropical old-growth forests.

scholarly journals Influence of topography and fuels on fire refugia probability under varying fire weather conditions in forests of the Pacific Northwest, USA

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (7) ◽  
pp. 636-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garrett W. Meigs ◽  
Christopher J. Dunn ◽  
Sean A. Parks ◽  
Meg A. Krawchuk
Keyword(s):  
Conditional Probability ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Old Growth Forest ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Live Fuels ◽  
Surrounding Areas ◽  
And Function

Fire refugia — locations that burn less severely or less frequently than surrounding areas — support late-successional and old-growth forest structure and function. This study investigates the influence of topography and fuels on the probability of forest fire refugia under varying fire weather conditions. We focused on recent large fires in Oregon and Washington, United States (n = 39 fires > 400 ha, 2004–2014). Our objectives were to (1) map fire refugia as a component of the burn severity gradient, (2) quantify the predictability of fire refugia as a function of prefire fuels and topography under moderate and high fire weather conditions, and (3) map the conditional probability of fire refugia to illustrate their spatial patterns in old-growth forests. Fire refugia exhibited higher predictability under relatively moderate fire weather conditions. Prefire live fuels were strong predictors of fire refugia, with higher refugia probability in forests with higher prefire biomass. In addition, fire refugia probability was higher in topographic settings with relatively northern aspects, steep catchment slopes, and concave topographic positions. Conditional probability maps revealed consistently higher fire refugia probability under moderate versus high fire weather scenarios. Results from this study inform conservation planning by determining late-successional forests most likely to persist as fire refugia despite increasing regional fire activity.

Spatial and temporal dynamics of 20th century carbon storage and emissions after wildfire in an old-growth forest landscape

2019 ◽  
Vol 449 ◽  
pp. 117461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas B. Harris ◽  
Andrew E. Scholl ◽  
Amanda B. Young ◽  
Becky L. Estes ◽  
Alan H. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Carbon Storage ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Forest Landscape ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Old Growth Forest ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Dynamics

scholarly journals Ecosystem fluxes of carbonyl sulfide in an old-growth forest: temporal dynamics and responses to diffuse radiation and heat waves

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (23) ◽  
pp. 7127-7139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bharat Rastogi ◽  
Max Berkelhammer ◽  
Sonia Wharton ◽  
Mary E. Whelan ◽  
Frederick C. Meinzer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Carbonyl Sulfide ◽  
Diffuse Radiation ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Old Growth Forest ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Us

Abstract. Carbonyl sulfide (OCS) has recently emerged as a tracer for terrestrial carbon uptake. While physiological studies relating OCS fluxes to leaf stomatal dynamics have been established at leaf and branch scales and incorporated into global carbon cycle models, the quantity of data from ecosystem-scale field studies remains limited. In this study, we employ established theoretical relationships to infer ecosystem-scale plant OCS uptake from mixing ratio measurements. OCS fluxes showed a pronounced diurnal cycle, with maximum uptake at midday. OCS uptake was found to scale with independent measurements of CO2 fluxes over a 60 m tall old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest of the US (45∘49′13.76′′ N, 121∘57′06.88′′ W) at daily and monthly timescales under mid–high light conditions across the growing season in 2015. OCS fluxes were strongly influenced by the fraction of downwelling diffuse light. Finally, we examine the effect of sequential heat waves on fluxes of OCS, CO2, and H2O. Our results bolster previous evidence that ecosystem OCS uptake is strongly related to stomatal dynamics, and measuring this gas improves constraints on estimating photosynthetic rates at the ecosystem scale.

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