中国伐木制品碳储量时空差异

森林生态系统碳储量是全球变化研究的热点问题之一,在国内外已经进行了深入的研究。然而,森林采伐后生产的伐木制品碳储量研究相对较少,因此基于IPCC提出的大气流动法,综合考虑伐木制品废弃情形,以2000年为基准年,估算了我国2000—2009新生产伐木制品的碳储量。结果表明,我国伐木制品是一个巨大碳库,且碳储量呈不断增加趋势。2000—2009年我国新生产的伐木制品,在2009年净碳储量为306.52 TgC,非纸木制品、纸类和竹材制品碳储量分别为114.71 TgC、4.33 TgC和199.07 TgC,而薪材燃烧累计碳释放量为11.60TgC,其他伐木制品累计碳释放量共为37.76 TgC。在2009年,终端伐木制品碳储量为318.12TgC,木材制品和竹制品碳储量分别占37.42%和62.58%;在木材制品中,非纸木制品和纸类碳储量为114.71TgC和4.33 TgC,各占96.36%和3.64%。与方精云估算的我国1999—2003年森林年碳汇量168.1 TgC/a相比,这一时期生产的伐木制品年净碳储量为25.21 Tg/a,占森林年碳汇量的15%,这说明伐木制品在维持碳平衡具有重要的作用。本文估算的竹制品碳储量约为木材制品碳储量的1.67倍,这说明竹材制品碳储量在伐木制品碳储量中占相当大的比重,是一个重要的碳库。此外,按照终端伐木制品净碳储量情况,可将我国分成高储量区、中储量区和低储量区。高储量区包括福建、浙江、湖南、云南、广西、江西6个省,这些地区终端伐木制品净碳储量占全国的67%;中储量区包括安徽、广东、湖北、四川、黑龙江、吉林和内蒙古等地区,其他地区为低储量区。我国7个地区按终端伐木制品净碳储量顺序排列为:华东、华中、华南、西南、东北、华北、西北。此外,研究还表明我国南方和北方伐木制品碳储量分别以竹材制品和木材制品储存为主。     

Climate- and crop-responsive emission factors significantly alter estimates of current and future nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer use

The current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) default methodology (tier 1) for calculating nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions from nitrogen applied to agricultural soils takes no account of either crop type or climatic conditions. As a result, the methodology omits factors that are crucial in determining current emissions, and has no mechanism to assess the potential impact of future climate and land‐use change. Scotland is used as a case study to illustrate the development of a new methodology, which retains the simple structure of the IPCC tier 1 methodology, but incorporates crop‐ and climate‐dependent emission factors (EFs). It also includes a factor to account for the effect of soil compaction because of trampling by grazing animals. These factors are based on recent field studies in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK. Under current conditions, the new methodology produces significantly higher estimates of annual N₂O emissions than the IPCC default methodology, almost entirely because of the increased contribution of grazed pasture. Total emissions from applied fertilizer and N deposited by grazing animals are estimated at 10 662 t N₂O‐N yr^?1 using the newly derived EFs, as opposed to 6 796 t N₂O‐N yr^?1 using the IPCC default EFs. On a spatial basis, emission levels are closer to those calculated using field observations and detailed soil modelling than to estimates made using the IPCC default methodology. This can be illustrated by parts of the western Ayrshire basin, which have previously been calculated to emit 8–9 kg N₂O‐N ha^?1 yr^?1 and are estimated here as 6.25–8.75 kg N₂O‐N ha^?1 yr^?1, while the IPCC default methodology gives a maximum emission level of only 3.75 kg N₂O‐N ha^?1 yr^?1 for the whole area. The new methodology is also applied in conjunction with scenarios for future climate‐ and land‐use patterns, to assess how these emissions may change in the future. The results suggest that by 2080, Scottish N₂O emissions may increase by up to 14%, depending on the climate scenario, if fertilizer and land management practices remain unchanged. Reductions in agricultural land use, however, have the potential to mitigate these increases and, depending on the replacement land use, may even reduce emissions to below current levels.     

Towards an integrated global framework to assess the impacts of land use and management change on soil carbon: current capability and future vision

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier 1 methodologies commonly underpin project‐scale carbon accounting for changes in land use and management and are used in frameworks for Life Cycle Assessment and carbon footprinting of food and energy crops. These methodologies were intended for use at large spatial scales. This can introduce error in predictions at finer spatial scales. There is an urgent need for development and implementation of higher tier methodologies that can be applied at fine spatial scales (e.g. farm/project/plantation) for food and bioenergy crop greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting to facilitate decision making in the land‐based sectors. Higher tier methods have been defined by IPCC and must be well evaluated and operate across a range of domains (e.g. climate region, soil type, crop type, topography), and must account for land use transitions and management changes being implemented. Furthermore, the data required to calibrate and drive the models used at higher tiers need to be available and applicable at fine spatial resolution, covering the meteorological, soil, cropping system and management domains, with quantified uncertainties. Testing the reliability of the models will require data either from sites with repeated measurements or from chronosequences. We review current global capability for estimating changes in soil carbon at fine spatial scales and present a vision for a framework capable of quantifying land use change and management impacts on soil carbon, which could be used for addressing issues such as bioenergy and biofuel sustainability, food security, forest protection, and direct/indirect impacts of land use change. The aim of this framework is to provide a globally accepted standard of carbon measurement and modelling appropriate for GHG accounting that could be applied at project to national scales (allowing outputs to be scaled up to a country level), to address the impacts of land use and land management change on soil carbon.     

中国木质林产品碳储量及其减排潜力

伐后木质林产品作为森林生态系统碳循环的一个组成部分,对森林生态系统和大气之间的碳平衡起着至关重要的作用.为准确合理估算木质林产品碳储量和我国参加气候变化谈判提供依据,在达喀尔会议上确立的3种估算方法框架下,即:储量变化法、生产法和大气流动法,利用寿命分析法和逐步递归法以及国内参数计算我国木质林产品的碳储量,且对生产法的应用提出了一种新假设思路,并分析我国木质林产品在替代建筑材料方面的减排潜力,结果显示:①分别利用储量变化法、生产法和大气流动法估算我国1961～2004年木质林产品的碳储量变化,证明我国的木质林产品是一个碳库,并且这个碳库的碳储量不断在增长;② 3种方法估算1961～2004年木质林产品碳储量的年平均增长量分别是11.73Mt · a-1(Mt=106t)、9.31Mt · a-1和7 90Mt · a-1;③木质林产品在建筑材料领域的替代作用以及延长其使用寿命使其减排潜力增大;④从碳储量计量和估算的难易程度来看,储量变化法的应用可能对我国较为有利;⑤针对生产法假设的实践应用,还需要进一步的研究.     

Carbon flux from decomposing wood and its dependency on temperature,wood N2 fixation rate,moisture and fungal composition in a Norway spruce forest

Globally 40–70 Pg of carbon (C) are stored in coarse woody debris on the forest floor. Climate change may reduce the function of this stock as a C sink in the future due to increasing temperature. However, current knowledge on the drivers of wood decomposition is inadequate for detailed predictions. To define the factors that control wood respiration rate of Norway spruce and to produce a model that adequately describes the decomposition process of this species as a function of time, we used an unprecedentedly diverse analytical approach, which included measurements of respiration, fungal community sequencing, N₂ fixation rate, nifH copy number, ¹⁴C‐dating as well as N%, δ¹³C and C% values of wood. Our results suggest that climate change will accelerate C flux from deadwood in boreal conditions, due to the observed strong temperature dependency of deadwood respiration. At the research site, the annual C flux from deadwood would increase by 27% from the current 117 g C/kg wood with the projected climate warming (RCP4.5). The second most important control on respiration rate was the stage of wood decomposition; at early stages of decomposition low nitrogen content and low wood moisture limited fungal activity while reduced wood resource quality decreased the respiration rate at the final stages of decomposition. Wood decomposition process was best described by a Sigmoidal model, where after 116 years of wood decomposition mass loss of 95% was reached. Our results on deadwood decomposition are important for C budget calculations in ecosystem and climate change models. We observed for the first time that the temperature dependency of N₂ fixation, which has a major role at providing N for wood‐inhabiting fungi, was not constant but varied between wood density classes due to source supply and wood quality. This has significant consequences on projecting N₂ fixation rates for deadwood in changing climate.     

Recycle,Bury, or Burn Wood Waste Biomass?: LCA Answer Depends on Carbon Accounting,Emissions Controls,Displaced Fuels,and Impact Costs

This study extends existing life cycle assessment (LCA) literature by assessing seven environmental burdens and an overall monetized environmental score for eight recycle, bury, or burn options to manage clean wood wastes generated at construction and demolition activity sites. The study assesses direct environmental impacts along with substitution effects from displacing fossil fuels and managed forest wood sourcing activities. Follow‐on effects on forest carbon stocks, land use, and fuel markets are not assessed. Sensitivity analysis addresses landfill carbon storage and biodegradation rates, atmospheric emissions controls, displaced fuel types, and two alternative carbon accounting methods commonly used for waste management LCAs. Base‐case carbon accounting considers emissions and uptakes of all biogenic and fossil carbon compounds, including biogenic carbon dioxide. Base‐case results show that recycling options (recycling into reconstituted wood products or into wood pulp for papermaking) rank better than all burning or burying options for overall monetized score as well as for climate impacts, except that wood substitution for coal in industrial boilers is slightly better than recycling for the climate. Wood substitution for natural gas boiler fuel has the highest environmental impacts. Sensitivity analysis shows the overall monetized score rankings for recycling options to be robust except for the carbon accounting method, for which all options are highly sensitive. Under one of the alternative methods, wood substitution for coal boiler fuel and landfill options with high methane capture efficiency are the best for the overall score; recycling options are next to the worst. Under the other accounting alternative, wood substitution for coal and waste‐to‐energy are the best, followed by recycling options.     

中国湿地温室气体清单编制研究进展

湿地是重要的土地利用类型之一,在陆地生态系统碳循环中起重要作用。在缔约国向《联合国气候变化框架公约》提交的温室气体国家清单报告中,湿地作为“农业、林业及其他土地利用(AFOLU)”的一部分,因其不确定性较高而备受关注。自2006年以来,IPCC先后发布了《2006 IPCC国家温室气体清单指南》、《2013 IPCC 2006国家温室气体清单指南的增补：湿地》和《IPCC 2006年国家温室气体清单指南2019精细化》,为缔约国提供了清单编制的参考方法学。然而,IPCC指南中对湿地的定义和分类与中国现行的土地利用类型和并不统一,其提供的缺省参数对中国的研究亦未充分整合。因此,亟需在IPCC框架下开发适合中国的湿地温室气体清单方法学及参数库,以降低清单编制的不确定性。综述了IPCC湿地清单编制的方法学与中国湿地清单的研究进展,主要包括(1)比较了IPCC三部指南中的湿地清单的方法学,梳理了后两部对《2006 IPCC国家温室气体清单指南》在湿地类型、评估方法和缺省参数的更新内容;(2)比较了中国湿地清单编制与其他湿地温室气体研究结果的差异并探讨原因;(3)梳理了IPCC三部清单指南中湿地...     

Disentangling stand and environmental correlates of aboveground biomass in Amazonian forests

Tropical forests contain an important proportion of the carbon stored in terrestrial vegetation, but estimated aboveground biomass (AGB) in tropical forests varies two‐fold, with little consensus on the relative importance of climate, soil and forest structure in explaining spatial patterns. Here, we present analyses from a plot network designed to examine differences among contrasting forest habitats (terra firme, seasonally flooded, and white‐sand forests) that span the gradient of climate and soil conditions of the Amazon basin. We installed 0.5‐ha plots in 74 sites representing the three lowland forest habitats in both Loreto, Peru and French Guiana, and we integrated data describing climate, soil physical and chemical characteristics and stand variables, including local measures of wood specific gravity (WSG). We use a hierarchical model to separate the contributions of stand variables from climate and soil variables in explaining spatial variation in AGB. AGB differed among both habitats and regions, varying from 78 Mg ha^?1 in white‐sand forest in Peru to 605 Mg ha^?1 in terra firme clay forest of French Guiana. Stand variables including tree size and basal area, and to a lesser extent WSG, were strong predictors of spatial variation in AGB. In contrast, soil and climate variables explained little overall variation in AGB, though they did co‐vary to a limited extent with stand parameters that explained AGB. Our results suggest that positive feedbacks in forest structure and turnover control AGB in Amazonian forests, with richer soils (Peruvian terra firme and all seasonally flooded habitats) supporting smaller trees with lower wood density and moderate soils (French Guianan terra firme) supporting many larger trees with high wood density. The weak direct relationships we observed between soil and climate variables and AGB suggest that the most appropriate approaches to landscape scale modeling of AGB in the Amazon would be based on remote sensing methods to map stand structure.     

Carbon Footprint Assessment of a Paperback Book

This study presents the carbon footprint of a paperback book for which the cover and inside papers were produced in the United States and printed in Canada. The choice of paper mills for both cover and page papers was based on criteria such as percentage of recycled content in the pulp mix, transport distances (pulp mill to paper mill, paper mill to print), and technologies. The cradle‐to‐gate assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions follows recognized guidelines for carbon footprint assessment. The results show that the production of 400,000 books, mainly distributed in North America, would generate 1,084 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂‐eq), or 2.71 kilograms (kg) CO₂‐eq per book. The impact of using deinked market pulp (DMP) is shown here to be detrimental, accounting for 54% of total GHG emissions and being 32% higher than reference virgin Kraft pulp. This supports findings that DMP mill GHG emissions strongly correlate with the carbon intensity of the power grid supplying the pulp mill and that virgin Kraft mills that reuse wood residue and black liquor to produce heat and electricity can achieve lower GHG emissions per tonne of pulp produced. Although contrary to common thinking, this is consistent with the Paper Task Force 2002 conclusion for office paper (the closest paper grade to writing paper or fine paper) (EDF 2002a). To get a cradle‐to‐grave perspective, three different end‐of‐life (EOL) scenarios were analyzed, all of which included a harvested wood product (HWP) carbon storage benefit for 25 years. The GHG offset concept within the context of the book editor's “carbon‐neutral” paper claims is also discussed.     

Global warming potentials of stemwood used for energy and materials in Southern Finland: differentiation of impacts based on type of harvest and product lifetime

Wood harvesting in boreal forests typically consists of sequential harvesting operations within a rotation: a few thinnings and a final felling. The aim of this paper is to model differentiated relative global warming potential (GWP) coefficients for stemwood use from different thinnings and final fellings, and correction factors for long‐lived wood products, potentially applicable in life cycle assessment studies. All thinnings and final fellings influence the development of forest carbon stocks. The climate impact of a single harvesting operation is generated in comparison with no harvesting, thus encountering a methodological problem on how to handle the subsequent operations. The dynamic forest stand simulator MOTTI was applied in the modelling of evolution of forest carbon stocks at landscape level in Southern Finland. The landscape‐level approach for climate impact assessment gave results similar to some stand‐level approaches presented in previous literature that included the same forest C pools and also studied the impacts relative to the no‐harvest situation. The climate impacts of stemwood use decreased over time. For energy use, the impacts were higher or similar in the short term and 0–50% lower in the midterm in comparison with an identical amount of fossil CO₂. The impacts were to some extent (approximately 20–40%) lower for wood from intermediate thinnings than for wood from final fellings or first thinnings. However, the study reveals that product lifetime has higher relative influence on the climate impacts of wood‐based value chains than whether the stemwood originates from thinnings or final fellings. Although the evolution of future C stocks in unmanaged boreal forests is uncertain, a sensitivity analysis suggests that landscape‐level model results for climate impacts would not be sensitive to the assumptions made on the future evolution of C stocks in unmanaged forest. Energy use of boreal stemwood seems to be far from climate neutral.     

Modelling carbon stocks and fluxes in the wood product sector: a comparative review

In addition to forest ecosystems, wood products are carbon pools that can be strategically managed to mitigate climate change. Wood product models (WPMs) simulating the carbon balance of wood production, use and end of life can complement forest growth models to evaluate the mitigation potential of the forest sector as a whole. WPMs can be used to compare scenarios of product use and explore mitigation strategies. A considerable number of WPMs have been developed in the last three decades, but there is no review available analysing their functionality and performance. This study analyses and compares 41 WPMs. One surprising initial result was that we discovered the erroneous implementation of a few concepts and assumptions in some of the models. We further described and compared the models using six model characteristics (bucking allocation, industrial processes, carbon pools, product removal, recycling and substitution effects) and three model‐use characteristics (system boundaries, model initialization and evaluation of results). Using a set of indicators based on the model characteristics, we classified models using a hierarchical clustering technique and differentiated them according to their increasing degrees of complexity and varying levels of user support. For purposes of simulating carbon stock in wood products, models with a simple structure may be sufficient, but to compare climate change mitigation options, complex models are needed. The number of models has increased substantially over the last ten years, introducing more diversity and accuracy. Calculation of substitution effects and recycling has also become more prominent. However, the lack of data is still an important constraint for a more realistic estimation of carbon stocks and fluxes. Therefore, if the sector wants to demonstrate the environmental quality of its products, it should make it a priority to provide reliable life cycle inventory data, particularly regarding aspects of time and location.     

Traits mediate drought effects on wood carbon fluxes

CO₂ fluxes from wood decomposition represent an important source of carbon from forest ecosystems to the atmosphere, which are determined by both wood traits and climate influencing the metabolic rates of decomposers. Previous studies have quantified the effects of moisture and temperature on wood decomposition, but these effects were not separated from the potential influence of wood traits. Indeed, it is not well understood how traits and climate interact to influence wood CO₂ fluxes. Here, we examined the responses of CO₂ fluxes from dead wood with different traits (angiosperm and gymnosperm) to 0%, 35%, and 70% rainfall reduction across seasonal temperature gradients. Our results showed that drought significantly decreased wood CO₂ fluxes, but its effects varied with both taxonomical group and drought intensity. Drought‐induced reduction in wood CO₂ fluxes was larger in angiosperms than gymnosperms for the 35% rainfall reduction treatment, but there was no significant difference between these groups for the 70% reduction treatment. This is because wood nitrogen density and carbon quality were significantly higher in angiosperms than gymnosperms, yielding a higher moisture sensitivity of wood decomposition. These findings were demonstrated by a significant positive interaction effect between wood nitrogen and moisture on CO₂ fluxes in a structural equation model. Additionally, we ascertained that a constant temperature sensitivity of CO₂ fluxes was independent of wood traits and consistent with previous estimates for extracellular enzyme kinetics. Our results highlight the key role of wood traits in regulating drought responses of wood carbon fluxes. Given that both climate and forest management might extensively modify taxonomic compositions in the future, it is critical for carbon cycle models to account for such interactions between wood traits and climate in driving dynamics of wood decomposition.     

The giant mycoheterotrophic orchid Erythrorchis altissima is associated mainly with a divergent set of wood‐decaying fungi

The climbing orchid Erythrorchis altissima is the largest mycoheterotroph in the world. Although previous in vitro work suggests that E. altissima has a unique symbiosis with wood‐decaying fungi, little is known about how this giant orchid meets its carbon and nutrient demands exclusively via mycorrhizal fungi. In this study, the mycorrhizal fungi of E. altissima were molecularly identified using root samples from 26 individuals. Furthermore, in vitro symbiotic germination with five fungi and stable isotope compositions in five E. altissima at one site were examined. In total, 37 fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonging to nine orders in Basidiomycota were identified from the orchid roots. Most of the fungal OTUs were wood‐decaying fungi, but underground roots had ectomycorrhizal Russula. Two fungal isolates from mycorrhizal roots induced seed germination and subsequent seedling development in vitro. Measurement of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope abundances revealed that E. altissima is a full mycoheterotroph whose carbon originates mainly from wood‐decaying fungi. All of the results show that E. altissima is associated with a wide range of wood‐ and soil‐inhabiting fungi, the majority of which are wood‐decaying taxa. This generalist association enables E. altissima to access a large carbon pool in woody debris and has been key to the evolution of such a large mycoheterotroph.     

Effects of harvesting on spatial and temporal diversity of carbon stocks in a boreal forest landscape

Carbon stocks in managed forests of Ontario, Canada, and in harvested wood products originated from these forests were estimated for 2010–2100. Simulations included four future forest harvesting scenarios based on historical harvesting levels (low, average, high, and maximum available) and a no‐harvest scenario. In four harvesting scenarios, forest carbon stocks in Ontario's managed forest were estimated to range from 6202 to 6227 Mt C (millions of tons of carbon) in 2010, and from 6121 to 6428 Mt C by 2100. Inclusion of carbon stored in harvested wood products in use and in landfills changed the projected range in 2100 to 6710–6742 Mt C. For the no‐harvest scenario, forest carbon stocks were projected to change from 6246 Mt C in 2010 to 6680 Mt C in 2100. Spatial variation in projected forest carbon stocks was strongly related to changes in forest age (r = 0.603), but had weak correlation with harvesting rates. For all managed forests in Ontario combined, projected carbon stocks in combined forest and harvested wood products converged to within 2% difference by 2100. The results suggest that harvesting in the boreal forest, if applied within limits of sustainable forest management, will eventually have a relatively small effect on long‐term combined forest and wood products carbon stocks. However, there was a large time lag to approach carbon equality, with more than 90 years with a net reduction in stored carbon in harvested forests plus wood products compared to nonharvested boreal forest which also has low rates of natural disturbance. The eventual near equivalency of carbon stocks in nonharvested forest and forest that is harvested and protected from natural disturbance reflects both the accumulation of carbon in harvested wood products and the relatively young age at which boreal forest stands undergo natural succession in the absence of disturbance.     

Changes in annual CO2 fluxes estimated from inventory data in South Korea

Using a slightly modified IPCC method, we examined changes in annual fluxes of CO2 and contributions of energy consumption, limestone use, waste combustion, land-use change, and forest growth to the fluxes in South Korea from 1990to 1997. Our method required less data and resulted in a larger estimate of CO2released by industrial processes, comparing with the original IPCC guideline. However, net CO2 emission is not substantially different from the estimates of IPCC and modified methods. Net CO2 emission is intimately related to GDP as Koreaneconomy has heavily relied on energy consumption and industrial activities, which are major sources of CO2. Total efflux of CO2 was estimated to be 63.6 Tg C/ain 1990 and amounted to 112.9 Tg C/a in 1997. Land-use change contributed to annual budget of CO2 in a relatively small portion. Carbon dioxide was sequesteredby forest biomass at the rate of 6.5 Tg C/a in 1990 and 8.5 Tg C/a in 1997. Although CO2 storage in the forests increased, the sink effect was overwhelmed by extensive energy consumption, suggesting that energy-saving strategies will be more effective in reducing CO2 emission in Korea than any other practices. It is presumed that plant uptake of CO2 is underestimated as carbon contained in plant detritus and belowground living biomass were not fully considered. Furthermore, the soil organic carbon stored in forest decomposes in various ways in rugged mountains depending on their conditions, such as slope, aspect and elevation, which could have an effect on decomposition rate and carbon stores in soils. Thus, carbon sequestration of forests deserves further attention.     

Estimating aboveground net biomass change for tropical and subtropical forests: Refinement of IPCC default rates using forest plot data

As countries advance in greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting for climate change mitigation, consistent estimates of aboveground net biomass change (?AGB) are needed. Countries with limited forest monitoring capabilities in the tropics and subtropics rely on IPCC 2006 default ?AGB rates, which are values per ecological zone, per continent. Similarly, research into forest biomass change at a large scale also makes use of these rates. IPCC 2006 default rates come from a handful of studies, provide no uncertainty indications and do not distinguish between older secondary forests and old‐growth forests. As part of the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, we incorporate ?AGB data available from 2006 onwards, comprising 176 chronosequences in secondary forests and 536 permanent plots in old‐growth and managed/logged forests located in 42 countries in Africa, North and South America and Asia. We generated ?AGB rate estimates for younger secondary forests (≤20 years), older secondary forests (>20 years and up to 100 years) and old‐growth forests, and accounted for uncertainties in our estimates. In tropical rainforests, for which data availability was the highest, our ?AGB rate estimates ranged from 3.4 (Asia) to 7.6 (Africa) Mg ha^?1 year^?1 in younger secondary forests, from 2.3 (North and South America) to 3.5 (Africa) Mg ha^?1 year^?1 in older secondary forests, and 0.7 (Asia) to 1.3 (Africa) Mg ha^?1 year^?1 in old‐growth forests. We provide a rigorous and traceable refinement of the IPCC 2006 default rates in tropical and subtropical ecological zones, and identify which areas require more research on ?AGB. In this respect, this study should be considered as an important step towards quantifying the role of tropical and subtropical forests as carbon sinks with higher accuracy; our new rates can be used for large‐scale GHG accounting by governmental bodies, nongovernmental organizations and in scientific research.     

A large‐scale field assessment of carbon stocks in human‐modified tropical forests

Tropical rainforests store enormous amounts of carbon, the protection of which represents a vital component of efforts to mitigate global climate change. Currently, tropical forest conservation, science, policies, and climate mitigation actions focus predominantly on reducing carbon emissions from deforestation alone. However, every year vast areas of the humid tropics are disturbed by selective logging, understory fires, and habitat fragmentation. There is an urgent need to understand the effect of such disturbances on carbon stocks, and how stocks in disturbed forests compare to those found in undisturbed primary forests as well as in regenerating secondary forests. Here, we present the results of the largest field study to date on the impacts of human disturbances on above and belowground carbon stocks in tropical forests. Live vegetation, the largest carbon pool, was extremely sensitive to disturbance: forests that experienced both selective logging and understory fires stored, on average, 40% less aboveground carbon than undisturbed forests and were structurally similar to secondary forests. Edge effects also played an important role in explaining variability in aboveground carbon stocks of disturbed forests. Results indicate a potential rapid recovery of the dead wood and litter carbon pools, while soil stocks (0–30 cm) appeared to be resistant to the effects of logging and fire. Carbon loss and subsequent emissions due to human disturbances remain largely unaccounted for in greenhouse gas inventories, but by comparing our estimates of depleted carbon stocks in disturbed forests with Brazilian government assessments of the total forest area annually disturbed in the Amazon, we show that these emissions could represent up to 40% of the carbon loss from deforestation in the region. We conclude that conservation programs aiming to ensure the long‐term permanence of forest carbon stocks, such as REDD+, will remain limited in their success unless they effectively avoid degradation as well as deforestation.     

Estimating annual N2O emissions from agricultural soils in temperate climates

The Kyoto protocol requires countries to provide national inventories for a list of greenhouse gases including N₂O. A standard methodology proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates direct N₂O emissions from soils as a constant fraction (1.25%) of the nitrogen input. This approach is insensitive to environmental variability. A more dynamic approach is needed to establish reliable N₂O emission inventories and to propose efficient mitigation strategies. The objective of this paper is to develop a model that allows the spatial and temporal variation in environmental conditions to be taken into account in national inventories of direct N₂O emissions. Observed annual N₂O emission rates are used to establish statistical relationships between N₂O emissions, seasonal climate and nitrogen‐fertilization rate. Two empirical models, MCROPS and MGRASS, were developed for croplands and grasslands. Validated with an independent data set, MCROPS shows that spring temperature and summer precipitation explain 35% of the variance in annual N₂O emissions from croplands. In MGRASS, nitrogen‐fertilization rate and winter temperature explain 48% of the variance in annual N₂O emissions from grasslands. Using long‐term climate observations (1900–2000), the sensitivity of the models with climate variability is estimated by comparing the year‐to‐year prediction of the model to the precision obtained during the validation process. MCROPS is able to capture interannual variability of N₂O emissions from croplands. However, grassland emissions show very small interannual variations, which are too small to be detectable by MGRASS. MCROPS and MGRASS improve the statistical reliability of direct N₂O emissions compared with the IPCC default methodology. Furthermore, the models can be used to estimate the effects of interannual variation in climate, climate change on direct N₂O emissions from soils at the regional scale.     

Towards Regional,Error-Bounded Landscape Carbon Storage Estimates for Data-Deficient Areas of the World

Monitoring landscape carbon storage is critical for supporting and validating climate change mitigation policies. These may be aimed at reducing deforestation and degradation, or increasing terrestrial carbon storage at local, regional and global levels. However, due to data-deficiencies, default global carbon storage values for given land cover types such as ‘lowland tropical forest’ are often used, termed ‘Tier 1 type’ analyses by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Such estimates may be erroneous when used at regional scales. Furthermore uncertainty assessments are rarely provided leading to estimates of land cover change carbon fluxes of unknown precision which may undermine efforts to properly evaluate land cover policies aimed at altering land cover dynamics. Here, we present a repeatable method to estimate carbon storage values and associated 95% confidence intervals (CI) for all five IPCC carbon pools (aboveground live carbon, litter, coarse woody debris, belowground live carbon and soil carbon) for data-deficient regions, using a combination of existing inventory data and systematic literature searches, weighted to ensure the final values are regionally specific. The method meets the IPCC ‘Tier 2’ reporting standard. We use this method to estimate carbon storage over an area of33.9 million hectares of eastern Tanzania, reporting values for 30 land cover types. We estimate that this area stored 6.33 (5.92–6.74) Pg C in the year 2000. Carbon storage estimates for the same study area extracted from five published Africa-wide or global studies show a mean carbon storage value of ∼50% of that reported using our regional values, with four of the five studies reporting lower carbon storage values. This suggests that carbon storage may have been underestimated for this region of Africa. Our study demonstrates the importance of obtaining regionally appropriate carbon storage estimates, and shows how such values can be produced for a relatively low investment.     

Global Warming Potential of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Biomass Stored in the Anthroposphere and Used for Bioenergy at End of Life

There is growing interest in understanding how storage or delayed emission of carbon in products based on bioresources might mitigate climate change, and how such activities could be credited. In this research we extend the recently introduced approach that integrates biogenic carbon dioxide (CO₂) fluxes with the global carbon cycle (using biogenic global warming potential [GWP_bio]) to consider the storage period of harvested biomass in the anthroposphere, with subsequent oxidation. We then examine how this affects the climate impact from a bioenergy resource. This approach is compared to several recent methods designed to address the same problem. Using both a 100‐ and a 500‐year fixed time horizon we calculate the GWP_bio factor for every combination of rotational and anthropogenic storage periods between 0 and 100 years. The resulting GWP_bio factors range from ?0.99 (1‐year rotation and 100‐year storage) to +0.44 (100‐year rotation and 0‐year storage). The approach proposed in this study includes the interface between biomass growth and emissions and the global carbon cycle, whereas other methods do not model this. These results and the characterization factors produced can determine the climate change benefits or impacts associated with the storage of biomass in the anthroposphere, and the subsequent release of biogenic CO₂ with the radiative forcing integrated in a fixed time window.