Estimating the global potential of forest and agroforest management practices to sequester carbon

Forests play a prominent role in the global C cycle. Occupying one-third of the earth's land area, forest vegetation and soils contain about 60% of the total terrestrial C. Forest biomass productivity can be enhanced by management practices, which suggests that, by this means, forests could store more C globally and thereby slow the increase in atmospheric CO₂. The question is how much C can be sequestered by forest and agroforest management practices. To address the question, a global database of information was compiled to assess quantitatively the potential of forestry practices to sequester C. The database presently has information for 94 forested nations that represent the boreal, temperate and tropical latitudes. Results indicate that the most promising management practices are reforestation in the temperate and tropical latitudes, afforestation in the temperate regions, and agroforestry and natural reforestation in the tropics. Across all practices, the median of the mean C storage values for the boreal latitudes is 16 tCha[^?1 (n=46) while in the temperate and tropical latitudes the median values are 71 tCha^?1 (n=401) and 66 tCha^?1 (n=170), respectively. Preliminary projections are that if these practices were implemented on 0.6 to 1.2×10⁹ ha of available land over a 50-yr period, approximately 50 to 100 GtC could be sequestered.     

The use of halophytes to sequester carbon

Wild salt tolerant plants, halophytes, could be grown on 130×10⁶ ha of potentially arable land in the world's coastal deserts, inland salt deserts and areas of secondary salinization in irrigation districts. Halophytes have potential as biomass crops to directly sequester up to 0.7 Gt C, similar to tree plantations, or they can play an indirect role in absorbing C from the atmosphere by providing food, fodder and energy crops from a new land base. To the extent new cropland can be developed from unused saline land, further land clearing and loss of C storage in forest fallow and old growth forests can be spared, thereby adding to the carbon sequestering potential of all usable ecosystems.     

Conversion of a tropical forest into agroforest alters the fine root-related carbon flux to the soil

Large areas of remaining tropical forests are affected by anthropogenic disturbances of various intensities. These disturbances alter the structure of the forest ecosystem and consequently its carbon budget. We analysed the role of fine root dynamics in the soil carbon budget of tropical moist forests in South-east Asia along a gradient of increasing disturbance intensity. Fine root production, fine root turnover, and the associated carbon fluxes from the fine root system to the soil were estimated with three different approaches in five stands ranging from an old growth forest with negligible anthropogenic disturbance to a cacao agroforestry system with planted shade trees. Annual fine root production and mortality in three natural forest sites with increasing canopy openness decreased continuously with increasing forest disturbance, with a reduction of more than 45% between the undisturbed forest and the forest with large timber extraction. Cacao agroforestry stands had higher fine root production and mortality rates than forest with large timber extraction but less than undisturbed forest. The amount of carbon annually transferred to the soil carbon pool through fine root mortality was highest in the undisturbed forest and generally decreased with increasing forest use intensity. However, root-related C flux was also relatively high in the plantation with planted shading trees. In contrast, the relative importance of C transfer from root death in the total above- and below-ground C input to the soil increased with increasing forest use intensity and was even similar to the C input via leaf litter fall in the more intensively managed agroforest. We conclude that moderate to heavy disturbance in South-east Asian tropical moist forests has a profound impact on fine root turnover and the related carbon transfer to the soil.     

Global forest systems: An uncertain response to atmospheric pollutants and global climate change?

Forest systems cover more than 4.1×10⁹ ha of the Earth's land area. The future response and feedbacks of forest systems to atmospheric pollutants and projected climate change may be significant. Boreal, temperate and tropical forest systems play a prominent role in carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) biogeochemical cycles at regional and global scales. The timing and magnitude of future changes in forest systems will depend on environmental factors such as a changing global climate, an accumulation of CO₂ in the atmosphere, and increase global mineralization of nutrients such as N and S. The interactive effects of all these factors on the world's forest regions are complex and not intuitively obvious and are likely to differ among geographic regions. Although the potential effects of some atmospheric pollutants on forest systems have been observed or simulated, large uncertainty exists in our ability to project future forest distribution, composition and productivity under transient or nontransient global climate change scenarios. The potential to manage and adapt forests to future global environmental conditions varies widely among nations. Mitigation practices, such as liming or fertilization to ameliorate excess NO_x or SO_x or forest management to sequester CO₂ are now being applied in selected nations worldwide.The U.S. Government's right to a non-exclusive, royalty free licence in and to any copyright is acknowledged.     

Dynamics of the dead wood carbon pool in northwestern Russian boreal forests

Our study examines dead wood dynamics in a series of permanent plots established in closed, productive second-growth forest stands of north-west Russia and in temporary plots that represent different successional stages and types of disturbance. Dead wood stores measured on 63 plots 0.2–1.0 ha in size range from 1–8 Mg C ha^?1 in young to mature intensively managed stands, 17 Mg C ha^?1 in an old-growth forest, 20 Mg C ha^?1 on a clear-cut, and 21–39 Mg C ha^?1 following a severe windthrow. A total of 122 logs, snags, and stumps aged by long-term plot records was sampled for decay rates and to develop a system of decay classes. Annual decomposition rates are: 3.3% for pine, 3.4% for spruce, and 4.5% for birch. Based on these decay rates the average residence time of carbon (C) in the dead wood pool is 22–30 years. The mortality input on the permanent plots was 23–60 Mg C ha^?1 over 60 years of observation or 15–50% of the total biomass increment. This data suggests a dead wood mass of 10–22 Mg C ha^?1 would be expected in these mature forests if salvage had not occurred. In old-growth forests, dead wood comprised about 20% of the total wood mass, a proportion quite similar to the larger, more productive forests of the Pacific Northwest (USA). If this proportioning is characteristic of cool conifer forests it would be useful to estimate potential dead wood mass for old-growth forests without dead wood inventories. However, the use of a single live/dead wood ratio across the range of successional stages, a common practice in C budget calculations, may substantially over-or under-estimate the dead wood C pool depending upon the type of disturbance regime. Intensive forest management including short harvest rotations, thinning and wood salvage reduces dead wood C stores to 5–40% of the potential level found in undisturbed old-growth forest. In contrast, natural disturbance increases dead wood C pool by a factor of 2–4.     

Contribution of temperate forests to the world's carbon budget

Temperate forests currently cover about 600 MHa, about half of their potential. Almost all these forests have been directly impacted by humans. The total living biomass in trees (including roots) was estimated to contain 33.7 Gt C. The total C pool for the entire forest biome was estimated as 98.8 Gt. The current net sink flux of biomass was calculated at 205 Mt yr^?1, with a similar amount removed in harvests for manufacture into various products. The major cause of this C sink is forest regrowth. Forest regrowth is possible because fossil fuels are the major source of energy in temperate countries, instead of fuelwood. Future C in these forests will be greatly influenced by human activity. Options to sequester more C include conservation of forest resources, activities that increase forest productivity such as adopting rotation ages to optimize C production, afforestation, improvement of wood utilization, and waste management.     

Processes and lands for sequestering carbon in the tropical forest landscape

Balancing the C budget in the tropics has been hindered by the assumption that those forests not undergoing deforestation are in C steady state with respect to their C pools and thus with the atmosphere. The long history of human activity in tropical forests suggests otherwise. In this paper we discuss the forest compartments into which C can be stored, what the likely rates of storage are and for how long, and over which areas of the tropical landscape these processes occur. Results of our analysis suggest that tropical forests have the potential to sequester up to 2.5 Pg C yr^?1 from the atmosphere if human pressure could be completely removed. Addition of agroecosystems and degraded lands could increase this estimate markedly.     

Three decades of deforestation in southwest Sumatra: Have protected areas halted forest loss and logging, and promoted re-growth?

Much of the forest cover in southern Sumatra, Indonesia has been cleared since the early 1970s, but accurate estimates of the scales and rates of loss are lacking. This study combined high-quality remote sensing applications and extensive field surveys, both to provide an accurate picture of deforestation patterns across an area of 1.17 million ha in southwest Sumatra and to assess whether southwest Sumatra’s Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (BBSNP) has halted forest loss and logging, and promoted re-growth, since its creation in 1984. Of the single large (692,850 ha) contiguous area of forest standing across our study area in 1972, nearly half (344,409 ha) has been cleared from 1972 to 2002, at an average rate per original forest cover of 1.69% y⁻¹. In Gunung Raya Wildlife Sanctuary (GRWS) and Hydrological Reserves (HR), forests have shrunk by 28,696 ha and 113,105 ha, at an average rate of 2.74% y⁻¹ and 2.13% y⁻¹, respectively. In contrast, forests in BBSNP have reduced four times more slowly than those in GRWS and HR, and have shrunk by 57,344 ha, at an average rate of 0.64% y⁻¹. Nevertheless, the forests within BBSNP were cleared almost as rapidly during the post-establishment, as during the pre-establishment, period (0.65% y⁻¹ and 0.63% y⁻¹, respectively) despite the introduction of protection measures during the post-establishment period, following the government’s pledge to expand and protect Indonesia’s network of Protected Areas (PAs) at the 1982 Bali World Parks Congress. While these protection measures failed to slow down rates of forest loss caused by agricultural encroachments they reduced large-scale mechanised logging by a factor of 4.2 and stabilized some 8610 ha of agricultural encroachments, enabling forest re-growth.     

Transition from Forest‐based to Cereal‐based Agricultural Systems: A Review of the Drivers of Land use Change and Degradation in Southwest Ethiopia

The southwestern Ethiopian montane forests are one of the most species‐rich ecosystems and are recognised globally as a priority area for the conservation of biodiversity. Particularly, in contrast to the drier central and northern Ethiopian highlands, they have received little attention by researchers. Here, we review changes to agricultural systems in and around these forests that are known as the genetic home of coffee (Coffea arabica L.) and that are important to the livelihoods of many rural people who have developed traditional management practices based on agro‐ecological knowledge, religious taboos and customary tenure rights. We explored the impacts of conversions to agroforestry and cereal‐based cropping systems on biodiversity, soil fertility, soil loss and the socio‐economic conditions and culture. The increasing trend of cereal cropping, resettlement and commercial agriculture causes the deterioration of natural forest cover in the region and threatens biodiversity, land quality, sustainable, traditional farming practices and the livelihood of the local community. Large‐scale plantations of tea, coffee, soapberry locally known as endod (Phytolacca dodecandra L'Hér.) and cereals have resulted in biodiversity loss. Following the conversion of forests, cultivated fields exhibit a significant decline in soil fertility and an increase in soil loss as compared with the traditional agroforestry system. The establishment of a sustainable agricultural system will require a change in paradigm, whereby the intrinsic values of the traditional forest‐based agricultural system are recognised, rather than the ongoing mimicking of agricultural policies that were developed for the open fields of central Ethiopia. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An approach to assessment of management impacts on agricultural soil carbon

Agroecosystems contain about 12% of the terrestrial soil C and play an important role in the global C cycle. We describe a project to evaluate the degree to which management practices can affect soil C in agroecosystems. The objectives of the project are to determine if agricultural systems can be managed to conserve and sequester C and thereby reduce the accumulation of CO₂ in the atmosphere, and to provide reference datasets and methodologies for agricultural assessments.     

Carbon trends of productive temperate forests of the coterminous United States

Carbon trends of U. S. timberlands reflect past and current harvesting patterns and forest growth. Using periodic forest inventory data coupled with the Carbon Budget Model, we estimate C inventory from 1952 to the present, and project future trends through 2070. Two sets of projections are presented, one based on economically derived harvest levels and the other assuming no harvests after 1990. Productive forests sequester an average of 250 Tg C yr^?1 from 1952–1987, but projections under expected harvests assuming no changes in growing conditions indicate this rate will fall to 60 Tg C yr^?1 from 1987 to at least 2050, and then become a C source by 2070. Carbon sequestered in products and landfills over the projection period average 75 Tg C yr^?1. An estimated 328 Tg C yr^?1 would be sequestered if harvesting ceased.     

Agroforestry as a strategy for carbon sequestration

During the past three decades, agroforestry has become recognized the world over as an integrated approach to sustainable land use because of its production and environmental benefits. Its recent recognition as a greenhouse gas–mitigation strategy under the Kyoto Protocol has earned it added attention as a strategy for biological carbon (C) sequestration. The perceived potential is based on the premise that the greater efficiency of integrated systems in resource (nutrients, light, and water) capture and utilization than single‐species systems will result in greater net C sequestration. Available estimates of C‐sequestration potential of agroforestry systems are derived by combining information on the aboveground, time‐averaged C stocks and the soil C values; but they are generally not rigorous. Methodological difficulties in estimating C stock of biomass and the extent of soil C storage under varying conditions are compounded by the lack of reliable estimates of area under agroforestry. We estimate that the area currently under agroforestry worldwide is 1,023 million ha. Additionally, substantial extent of areas of unproductive crop, grass, and forest lands as well as degraded lands could be brought under agroforestry. The extent of C sequestered in any agroforestry system will depend on a number of site‐specific biological, climatic, soil, and management factors. Furthermore, the profitability of C‐sequestration projects will depend on the price of C in the international market, additional income from the sale of products such as timber, and the cost related to C monitoring. Our knowledge on these issues is unfortunately rudimentary. Until such difficulties are surmounted, the low‐cost environmental benefit of agroforestry will continue to be underappreciated and underexploited.     

紫胶玉米混农林模式对地表蚂蚁多样性及功能群的影响

为了揭示紫胶玉米混农林对地表蚂蚁群落多样性及功能群的影响,采用陷阱法调查了云南省绿春县紫胶林、紫胶玉米混农林和玉米旱地3种类型样地的地表蚂蚁物种组成、物种多样性、群落结构相似性、指示物种和功能群等。结果显示,紫胶玉米混农林模式具有较高的地表蚂蚁物种数和稀有物种数,与玉米旱地相比,紫胶玉米混农林的蚂蚁物种数增加41%,稀有物种数增加85%。紫胶玉米混农林与紫胶林具有更高的蚂蚁多样性,其物种丰富度和ACE估值均显著高于玉米旱地,而紫胶玉米混农林的多度显著高于紫胶林和玉米旱地。地表蚂蚁物种组合在3种类型样地中有差异,与紫胶林和紫胶玉米混农林相关联的物种与玉米旱地不同。3种样地的指示物种不同,玉米旱地的指示种为扁平虹臭蚁和伊大头蚁,紫胶玉米混农林为凹头臭蚁、西昌刺结蚁和中华小家蚁,紫胶林为费氏盘腹蚁、立毛举腹蚁、阿普特铺道蚁、贝卡盘腹蚁和西氏拟毛蚁。紫胶玉米混农林蚂蚁功能群组成比例介于玉米旱地和紫胶林之间,其中机会主义者(OPP)、从属弓背蚁族(SC)、隐蔽物种(C)及气候特化种(CS)的蚂蚁物种数、多度及比例明显高于玉米旱地。紫胶玉米混农林生境较为复杂,对地表蚂蚁多样性保护具有积极作用,是平衡环境保护和经济可持续发展的较好模式。     

Effects of land-use change on soil microbial C, N and P in a Himalayan watershed

Soil microbial C, N and P as affected by land-use change were studied in a Himalayan watershed at Sikkim, India. The major land-uses considered were forests (dense and open), agroforestry types (large cardamom and mandarin), open cropped and wasteland areas covering subtropical and temperate zones. Across the land-use, microbial C ranged from 219 to 864 μg g⁻¹, microbial N from 30 to 142 μg g⁻¹, and microbial P from 12 to 43 μg g⁻¹ soils. The microbial C, N and P were positively related to each other. The microbial C:N ratio in these soils ranged from 6 to 11 and the microbial C:P ratio from 18 to 27. The conversion of forests into other land-uses resulted in a remarkable decline in the amounts of soil nutrients and microbial C, N and P. The microbial nutrients in the Himalayan region are very sensitive to land-use/cover changes. Therefore, the conversion of forest to agricultural land should be reversed. Agroforestry systems should be included in agricultural land in mountainous regions.     

Vulnerability and adaptation of the larch forest in eastern Siberia to climate change

The most widely distributed coniferous forests in the world are the larch forests. In the Russian Federation they occupy 27.6 × 10⁶ ha. In Siberia, the larch species Larix russica generally grows west of the Yenissei River, and Larix gmelinii grows to the east. The morphological and physiological features of L. gmelinii make it possible for this species to grow in the far north of eastern Siberia, where climate conditions are more severe: The range of air temperature fluctuations in this region is more than 100°C, from 38°C down to 64°C below zero. One of the major adaptions to unfavorable soil conditions is provided by a specific feature of root formation in L. gmelinii, in which the apex central root dies off at the permafrost border and a root system develops in upper soil layers. The major larch vulnerability factors are natural and anthropogenic fires and damage caused by insects, which become more frequent with hot and dry weather. The consequences of projected global warming could be both positive and negative for larch forests. Permafrost melting may result in improved soil nutrition in the areas the larch forests occupy, yet the frequency of forest fires and damage by pathogens are likely to increase. Global warming is expected to cause forest die back and increased areas of steppe in the southern regions of eastern Siberia.     

Effects of land-use system on the soil macrofauna in western Brazilian Amazonia

Agroforestry systems are presented as a valuable alternative to pastures to sustain crop production in forested areas. In order to evaluate their effect on soil macroinvertebrate communities, sampling was conducted during the rainy season at four localities located in the Rondônia and Acre states of Brazil. Four land-use systems were selected (fallow, annual crop, agroforestry systems and pasture), and compared to nearby disturbed forests. We used the sampling method recommended by the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Programme. Soil macrofauna responded more readily than soil parameters to different cultivation practices. Co-inertia analysis, however, showed a relationship between soil parameters and soil macrofauna. Comparison of communities showed a significant impact of land-use practices. All systems had quite abundant invertebrate communities with relatively low densities in the forest (884 ind. m^-2) and in pastures (841 ind. m^-2), and higher densities in fallow, agroforestry system and annual crop (1,737-1,761 ind. m^-2). Earthworms were dominant in pastures (155 ind. m^-2 and 56.2 g m^-2 on average), whereas termites thrived better in annual crops and fallows (with respective densities of 1,287 and 816 and biomasses of 2.32 and 1.38 g m^-2). Macrofauna communities in agroforestry systems were rather similar to the forest, in spite of higher densities of social insects. The termite:earthworm ratios were very low in pastures (0.2), had similar values in the forest (7.9) and the agroforestry system (8.8), which is much lower than in fallows (20.4) and annual crops (21.4) This study showed that all land-use practices were able to sustain sizeable macrofaunal communities with agroforestry communities rather similar to the those of a disturbed forest.     

三峡库区土地单元间农林复合结构对土壤水分分布的影响

 通过对三峡库区迎江坡面8种连续经营8年以上的代表性土地单元间农林复合结构模式的土壤水分状况监测,研究土壤水分分布规律。结果表明:由相同土地单元组成的农林复合结构模式,因土地单元的配置结构不同,土壤水分的动态变化存在着显著差异,土壤涵养水源的能力相异。林地-经济林-坡耕地、坡耕地-林地-经济林土壤水分状况优于其他结构类型。对三峡库区经济林生产而言,坡耕地-林地-经济林结构模式最优,林地-经济林-坡耕地次之。林地-经济林-坡耕地模式土壤贮水容量最大,林地-坡耕地-经济林模式次之,坡耕地-经济林-林地模式最小。林地中配置坡耕地会显著降低土壤涵养水源能力,在暴雨后,48h内1m3表层土壤贮水容量减小2.496t;坡耕地中配置林地能显著增加土壤持水能力,48h内1m3表层土壤持水量增加2.02t;林地开垦比坡耕地上造林对土壤水分特性的影响更显著。     

Specialised woodpeckers and naturalness in hemiboreal forests – Deriving quantitative targets for conservation planning

In many parts of the world’s forests, intensive management has resulted in habitat loss for several species. Among these, specialised woodpeckers (Aves: Picidae) have been affected negatively due to their high requirements for resources that are scarce in managed forests. We used the gradient of anthropogenic impact on forests in northern Europe’s Baltic Sea region to (1) assess the relationship between the presence of four focal woodpecker species and forest naturalness and (2) quantify their requirements regarding specific resources in four different areas (south-central Sweden, southern Sweden, Lithuania and northeastern Poland). This study focused on specialised woodpecker species of the Dendropicini tribe: the three-toed (Picoides tridactylus), middle spotted (Dendrocopos medius), white-backed (Dendrocopos leucotos) and lesser spotted (Dendrocopos minor) woodpeckers. The occurrence of these species in landscape units of 100 ha was generally related positively to the degree of forest naturalness and to the amounts of resources considered critical for the suitability of their respective habitats. For the middle spotted woodpecker, basal areas 1.0 m²/ha of large-diameter deciduous trees (DBH  40 cm) were associated with a high probability of occurrence (0.9). For the white-backed woodpecker, the same probability of occurrence was found for basal areas 1.4 m²/ha of deciduous snags (DBH  10 cm). Relationships between the occurrence of the three-toed and lesser spotted woodpeckers and snag abundance were more variable among study areas. The results suggest that specialised woodpeckers would benefit from an increase in the area of forest with natural properties. Moreover, they allow defining tentative quantitative targets for sustainable forest management.     

“New type” forest declines and restabilization/revitalization strategies a programmatic focus

Annual terrestrial inventories carried out in West Germany since 1984 indicate that for the last 4 yr approximately 50% of the forests were damaged. The damages were and are commonly attributed to the adverse effects of acid rain and other air pollutants. As most decline types are associated with nutritional disturbances, it was found that the application of lime and/or fertilizers could reduce or even remove the damages. Therefore, the West German government has established a nationwide program by which up to 80% of the costs of fertilization in forests revealing ”new type“ forest damages are subsidized. In practice, a clear distinction is made between compensative and ameliorative fertilization methods. Compensative fertilization means the application of Mg containing lime (generally 3,000 kg-ha^?1) to neutralize further acidic deposition in forest soils. The ameliorative fertilization is focused on the specific application of nutrients, particularly in stands with acute nutritional deficiencies. This is accomplished by means of readily soluble Mg and K fertilizers at application rates of 500 to 1,000 kg-ha^?1. In cases of insufficient P supply or for the activation of microbial decomposer chains in organic top soil horizons, P fertilizers are utilized. For ameliorative fertilization, foliar and soil analyses are recommended as a sound basis for fertilizer selection. In many cases, particularly in the States of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg, Mg containing lime in combination with fast soluble Mg and/or K (P) fertilizers are applied. Between 1984 and 1987, approximately 400,000 ha of “new type” forest damage areas have been limed and/or fertilized in West Germany. As positive as the application of lime and/or fertilizers appear to be, there exists some potential risks and limitations of these practices with regard to restabilization and revitalization of declining forest stands.     

Dead wood threshold values for the three-toed woodpecker presence in boreal and sub-Alpine forest

Predicting species' responses to habitat loss is a significant challenge facing conservation biologists. We examined the response of both European three-toed woodpecker subspecies Picoides tridactylus tridactylus and P. tr. alpinus to different amounts of dead wood in a boreal and a sub-Alpine coniferous forest landscape in central Sweden and Switzerland, respectively. Habitat variables were measured by fieldwork in forests with breeding woodpeckers (n=10+12) and in control forests without breeding woodpeckers (n=10+12) in the same landscape. Logistic regression analyses revealed steep thresholds for the amount of dead standing trees and the probability of three-toed woodpecker presence in both Sweden and Switzerland. The probability of the presence of three-toed woodpeckers increased from 0.10 to 0.95 when snag basal area increased from 0.6 to 1.3 m² ha⁻¹ in Switzerland and from 0.3 to 0.5 m² ha⁻¹ in central Sweden. In Switzerland, a high road network density was negatively correlated to the presence of woodpeckers (r=−0.65, p=0.0007). The higher volumes of dead wood in Switzerland, where population trends are more positive, than in central Sweden, where the population is declining, would suggest that the volumes of dead wood in managed forests in Sweden are too low to sustain three-toed woodpeckers in the long-term. In terms of management implications, we suggest a quantitative target of at least 5% of standing trees in older forests being dead over at least 100 ha large forest areas. This corresponds about to ?1.3 m² ha⁻¹ (basal area) or ?15 m³ ha⁻¹ (volume), still depending on site productivity.