http://www.cbmjournal.com The latest research articles published by Carbon Balance and Management 2009-06-15T00:00:00Z This is an RSS newsfeed from BioMed Central It is intended to be used with an RSS reader. For more information about RSS newsfeeds from BioMed Central, visit http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/about/rss/ Background: One controversial issue in the larger cap-and-trade debate is the proper use and certification of carbon offsets related to changes in land management. Advocates of an expanded offset supply claim that inclusion of such activities would expand the scope of the program and lower overall compliance costs, while opponents claim that it would weaken the environmental integrity of the program by crediting activities that yield either nonexistent or merely temporary carbon sequestration benefits. Our study starts from the premise that offsets are neither perfect mitigation instruments nor useless "hot air." Results: We show that offsets provide a useful cost containment function, even when there is some threat of reversal, by injecting additional "when-flexibility" into the system. This allows market participants to shift their reduction requirements to periods of lower cost, thereby facilitating attainment of the least-cost time path without jeopardizing the cumulative environmental integrity of the system. By accounting for market conditions in conjunction with reversal risk, we develop a simple offset valuation methodology, taking into account the two most important factors that typically lead offsets to be overvalued or undervalued. Conclusions: The result of this paper is a quantitative "model rule" that could be included in future legislation or used as a basis for active management by a future "carbon fed" or other regulatory authority with jurisdiction over the US carbon market to actively manage allowance prices. http://www.cbmjournal.com/content/4/1/3 Bryan Mignone Matthew Hurteau Yihsu Chen Brent Sohngen Carbon Balance and Management 2009, 4:3 2009-06-15T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1750-0680-4-3 Carbon Balance and Management 1750-0680 4 3 2009-06-15T00:00:00Z PDF Mapping and monitoring carbon stocks in forested regions of the world, particularly the tropics, has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years as deforestation and forest degradation account for up to 30% of anthropogenic carbon emissions, and are now included in climate change negotiations. We review the potential for satellites to measure carbon stocks, specifically aboveground biomass (AGB), and provide an overview of a range of approaches that have been developed and used to map AGB across a diverse set of conditions and geographic areas. We provide a summary of types of remote sensing measurements relevant to mapping AGB, and assess the relative merits and limitations of each. We then provide an overview of traditional techniques of mapping AGB based on ascribing field measurements to vegetation or land cover type classes, and describe the merits and limitations of those relative to recent data mining algorithms used in the context of an approach based on direct utilization of remote sensing measurements, whether optical or lidar reflectance, or radar backscatter. We conclude that while satellite remote sensing has often been discounted as inadequate for the task, attempts to map AGB without satellite imagery are insufficient. Moreover, the direct remote sensing approach provided more coherent maps of AGB relative to traditional approaches. We demonstrate this with a case study focused on continental Africa and discuss the work in the context of reducing uncertainty for carbon monitoring and markets. http://www.cbmjournal.com/content/4/1/2 Scott Goetz Alessandro Baccini Nadine Laporte Tracy Johns Wayne Walker Josef Kellndorfer Richard Houghton Mindy Sun Carbon Balance and Management 2009, 4:2 2009-03-25T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1750-0680-4-2 Carbon Balance and Management 1750-0680 4 2 2009-03-25T00:00:00Z XML Background: Forests can sequester carbon dioxide, thereby reducing atmospheric concentrations and slowing global warming. In the U.S., forest carbon stocks have increased as a result of regrowth following land abandonment and in-growth due to fire suppression, and they currently sequester approximately 10% of annual US emissions. This ecosystem service is recognized in greenhouse gas protocols and cap-and-trade mechanisms, yet forest carbon is valued equally regardless of forest type, an approach that fails to account for risk of carbon loss from disturbance. Results: Here we show that incorporating wildfire risk reduces the value of forest carbon depending on the location and condition of the forest. There is a general trend of decreasing risk-scaled forest carbon value moving from the northern toward the southern continental U.S. Conclusion: Because disturbance is a major ecological factor influencing long-term carbon storage and is often sensitive to human management, carbon trading mechanisms should account for the reduction in value associated with disturbance risk. http://www.cbmjournal.com/content/4/1/1 Matthew Hurteau Bruce Hungate George Koch Carbon Balance and Management 2009, 4:1 2009-01-16T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1750-0680-4-1 Carbon Balance and Management 1750-0680 4 1 2009-01-16T00:00:00Z XML Background: The biosphere models of terrestrial productivity are essential for projecting climate change and assessing mitigation and adaptation options. Many of them have been developed in connection to the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) that backs the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In the end of 1990s, IGBP sponsored release of a data set summarizing the model outputs and setting certain norms for estimates of terrestrial productivity. Since a number of new models and new versions of old models were developed during the past decade, these normative data require updating. Results: Here, we provide the series of updates that reflects evolution of biosphere models and demonstrates evolutional stability of the global and regional estimates of terrestrial productivity. Most of them fit well the long-living Miami model. At the same time we call attention to the emerging alternative: the global potential for net primary production of biomass may be as high as 70 PgC y-1, the productivity of larch forest zone may be comparable to the productivity of taiga zone, and the productivity of rain-green forest zone may be comparable to the productivity of tropical rainforest zone. Conclusion: The departure from Miami model's worldview mentioned above cannot be simply ignored. It requires thorough examination using modern observational tools and techniques for model-data fusion. Stability of normative knowledge is not its ultimate goal – the norms for estimates of terrestrial productivity must be evidence-based. http://www.cbmjournal.com/content/3/1/8 Georgii Alexandrov Tsuneo Matsunaga Carbon Balance and Management 2008, 3:8 2008-12-24T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1750-0680-3-8 Carbon Balance and Management 1750-0680 3 8 2008-12-24T00:00:00Z XML Background: Large spatial, seasonal and annual variability of major drivers of the carbon cycle (precipitation, temperature, fire regime and nutrient availability) are common in the Sahel region. This causes large variability in net ecosystem exchange and in vegetation productivity, the subsistence basis for a major part of the rural population in Sahel. This study compares the 2005 dry and wet season fluxes of CO2 for a grass land/sparse savanna site in semi arid Sudan and relates these fluxes to water availability and incoming photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD). Data from this site could complement the current sparse observation network in Africa, a continent where climatic change could significantly impact the future and which constitute a weak link in our understanding of the global carbon cycle. Results: The dry season (represented by Julian day 35–46, February 2005) was characterized by low soil moisture availability, low evapotranspiration and a high vapor pressure deficit. The mean daily NEE (net ecosystem exchange, Eq. 1) was -14.7 mmol d-1 for the 12 day period (negative numbers denote sinks, i.e. flux from the atmosphere to the biosphere). The water use efficiency (WUE) was 1.6 mmol CO2 mol H2O-1 and the light use efficiency (LUE) was 0.95 mmol CO2 mol PPFD-1. Photosynthesis is a weak, but linear function of PPFD. The wet season (represented by Julian day 266–273, September 2005) was, compared to the dry season, characterized by slightly higher soil moisture availability, higher evapotranspiration and a slightly lower vapor pressure deficit. The mean daily NEE was -152 mmol d-1 for the 8 day period. The WUE was lower, 0.97 mmol CO2 mol H2O-1 and the LUE was higher, 7.2 μmol CO2 mmol PPFD-1 during the wet season compared to the dry season. During the wet season photosynthesis increases with PPFD to about 1600 μmol m-2s-1 and then levels off. Conclusion: Based on data collected during two short periods, the studied ecosystem was a sink of carbon both during the dry and wet season 2005. The small sink during the dry season is surprising and similar dry season sinks have not to our knowledge been reported from other similar savanna ecosystems and could have potential management implications for agroforestry. A strong response of NEE versus small changes in plant available soil water content was found. Collection and analysis of flux data for several consecutive years including variations in precipitation, available soil moisture and labile soil carbon are needed for understanding the year to year variation of the carbon budget of this grass land/sparse savanna site in semi arid Sudan. http://www.cbmjournal.com/content/3/1/7 Jonas Ardo Meelis Molder Bashir El-Tahir Hatim Elkhidir Carbon Balance and Management 2008, 3:7 2008-12-01T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1750-0680-3-7 Carbon Balance and Management 1750-0680 3 7 2008-12-01T00:00:00Z XML Information on carbon stock and flux resulting from land-use changes in subtropical, semi-arid ecosystems are important to understand global carbon flux, yet little data is available. In the Tamaulipan thornscrub forests of northeastern Mexico, biomass components of standing vegetation were estimated from 56 quadrats (200 m2 each). Regional land-use changes and present forest cover, as well as estimates of soil organic carbon from chronosequences, were used to predict carbon stocks and fluxes in this ecosystem.For the period of 1980–1996, the Tamaulipan thornscrub is presenting an annual deforestation rate of 2.27% indicating that approximately 600 km2 of this plant community are lost every year and that 60% of the original Mexican Tamaulipan thornscrub vegetation has been lost since the 1950's. On the other hand, intensive agriculture, including introduced grasslands increased (4,000 km2) from 32 to 42% of the total studied area, largely at the expense of the Tamaulipan thornscrub forests. Land-use changes from Tamaulipan thornscrub forest to agriculture contribute 2.2 Tg to current annual carbon emissions and standing biomass averages 0.24 ± 0.06 Tg, root biomass averages 0.17 ± 0.03 Tg, and soil organic carbon averages 1.80 ± 0.27 Tg. Land-use changes from 1950 to 2000 accounted for Carbon emissions of the order of 180.1 Tg. Projected land-use changes will likely contribute to an additional carbon flux of 98.0 Tg by the year 2100. Practices to conserve sequester, and transfer carbon stocks in semi-arid ecosystems are discussed as a means to reduce carbon flux from deforestation practices. http://www.cbmjournal.com/content/3/1/6 Jose Navar-Chaidez Carbon Balance and Management 2008, 3:6 2008-09-30T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1750-0680-3-6 Carbon Balance and Management 1750-0680 3 6 2008-09-30T00:00:00Z XML Background: Coarse and fine woody debris are substantial forest ecosystem carbon stocks; however, there is a lack of understanding how these detrital carbon stocks vary across forested landscapes. Because forest woody detritus production and decay rates may partially depend on climatic conditions, the accumulation of coarse and fine woody debris carbon stocks in forests may be correlated with climate. This study used a nationwide inventory of coarse and fine woody debris in the United States to examine how these carbon stocks vary by climatic regions and variables. Results: Mean coarse and fine woody debris forest carbon stocks vary by Köppen's climatic regions across the United States. The highest carbon stocks were found in regions with cool summers while the lowest carbon stocks were found in arid desert/steppes or temperate humid regions. Coarse and fine woody debris carbon stocks were found to be positively correlated with available moisture and negatively correlated with maximum temperature. Conclusion: It was concluded with only medium confidence that coarse and fine woody debris carbon stocks may be at risk of becoming net emitter of carbon under a global climate warming scenario as increases in coarse or fine woody debris production (sinks) may be more than offset by increases in forest woody detritus decay rates (emission). Given the preliminary results of this study and the rather tenuous status of coarse and fine woody debris carbon stocks as either a source or sink of CO2, further research is suggested in the areas of forest detritus decay and production. http://www.cbmjournal.com/content/3/1/5 Christopher Woodall Greg Liknes Carbon Balance and Management 2008, 3:5 2008-06-09T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1750-0680-3-5 Carbon Balance and Management 1750-0680 3 5 2008-06-09T00:00:00Z XML Background: Coupled climate-carbon cycle simulations generally show that climate feedbacks amplify the buildup of CO2 under respective anthropogenic emission. The effect of climate-carbon cycle feedback is characterised by the feedback gain: the relative increase in CO2 increment as compared to uncoupled simulations. According to the results of the recent Coupled Climate-Carbon Cycle Model Intercomparison Project (C4MIP), the gain is expected to increase during the 21st century. This conclusion is not supported by the climate model developed at the A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS CM). The latter model shows an eventual transient saturation of the feedback gain. This saturation is manifested in a change of climate-carbon cycle feedback gain which grows initially, attains a maximum, and then decreases, eventually tending to unity. Results: Numerical experiments with the IAP RAS CM as well as an analysis of the conceptual framework demonstrate that this eventual transient saturation results from the fact that transient climate sensitivity decreases with time. Conclusion: One may conclude that the eventual transient saturation of the climate-carbon cycle feedback is a fundamental property of the coupled climate-carbon system that manifests itself on a relevant time scale. http://www.cbmjournal.com/content/3/1/4 Igor Mokhov Alexey Eliseev Carbon Balance and Management 2008, 3:4 2008-04-28T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1750-0680-3-4 Carbon Balance and Management 1750-0680 3 4 2008-04-28T00:00:00Z XML Background: Carbon plantations are introduced in climate change policy as an option to slow the build-up of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. Here we present a methodology to evaluate the potential effectiveness of carbon plantations. The methodology explicitly considers future long-term land-use change around the world and all relevant carbon (C) fluxes, including all natural fluxes. Both issues have generally been ignored in earlier studies. Results: Two different baseline scenarios up to 2100 indicate that uncertainties in future land-use change lead to a near 100% difference in estimates of carbon sequestration potentials. Moreover, social, economic and institutional barriers preventing carbon plantations in natural vegetation areas decrease the physical potential by 75–80% or more.Nevertheless, carbon plantations can still considerably contribute to slowing the increase in the atmospheric CO2 concentration but only in the long term. The most conservative set of assumptions lowers the increase of the atmospheric CO2 concentration in 2100 by a 27 ppm and compensates for 5–7% of the total energy-related CO2 emissions. The net sequestration up to 2020 is limited, given the short-term increased need for agricultural land in most regions and the long period needed to compensate for emissions through the establishment of the plantations. The potential is highest in the tropics, despite projections that most of the agricultural expansion will be in these regions. Plantations in high latitudes as Northern Europe and Northern Russia should only be established if the objective to sequester carbon is combined with other activities. Conclusion: Carbon sequestration in plantations can play an important role in mitigating the build-up of atmospheric CO2. The actual magnitude depends on natural and management factors, social barriers, and the time frame considered. In addition, there are a number of ancillary benefits for local communities and the environment. Carbon plantations are, however, particularly effective in the long term. Furthermore, plantations do not offer the ultimate solution towards stabilizing CO2 concentrations but should be part of a broader package of options with clear energy emission reduction measures. http://www.cbmjournal.com/content/3/1/3 Jelle van Minnen Bart Strengers Bas Eickhout Rob Swart Rik Leemans Carbon Balance and Management 2008, 3:3 2008-04-15T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1750-0680-3-3 Carbon Balance and Management 1750-0680 3 3 2008-04-15T00:00:00Z XML We present a new methodological approach to incorporating deforestation within the international climate change negotiating regime. The approach, called "Preservation Pathway" combines the desire for forest preservation with the need to reduce emissions associated with forest loss by focusing on the relative rate of change of forest cover as the criteria by which countries gain access to trading preserved forest carbon stocks. This approach avoids the technically challenging task of quantifying historical or future deforestation emission baselines. Rather, it places emphasis on improving quantification of contemporary stocks and the relative decline in deforestation rates necessary to preserve those stocks. This approach places emphasis on the complete emissions trajectory necessary to attain an agreed-upon preserved forest and as such, meets both forest conservation and climate goals simultaneously. http://www.cbmjournal.com/content/3/1/2 Kevin Gurney Leigh Raymond Carbon Balance and Management 2008, 3:2 2008-03-03T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1750-0680-3-2 Carbon Balance and Management 1750-0680 3 2 2008-03-03T00:00:00Z XML