Can boreal afforestation help offset incompressible GHG emissions from Canadian industries?

Boucher, Jean‐François; Tremblay, Pascal; Gaboury, Simon; Villeneuve, Claude

doi:10.1016/j.psep.2012.10.011

Cited by 30 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Altogether, the early growth results in this study are contributing to the first efforts needed to help progressing the idea of LW afforestation from a potential new niche to a productive silvicultural activity [7,9], with particular relevance as a climate change mitigation measure under the growing carbon markets [9,30,66]. Moreover, plantation could be applied as underplanting without harvest prior to site preparation [7,66], thereby, leaving a part of the local genetics in the stand and recreating structural heterogeneity that is naturally occurring in natural old forests.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…The lower production, transport and planting costs associated with the use of a smaller containerized stock (higher container density in nursery and transport crates, and lighter weight), should be taken into account as the afforestation of unproductive open woodlands may represent a more risky investment than that on sites of known productivity, as long term survival and growth yield of this type of stand are still unknown [65]. Altogether, the early growth results in this study are contributing to the first efforts needed to help progressing the idea of LW afforestation from a potential new niche to a productive silvicultural activity [7,9], with particular relevance as a climate change mitigation measure under the growing carbon markets [9,30,66]. Moreover, plantation could be applied as underplanting without harvest prior to site preparation [7,66], thereby, leaving a part of the local genetics in the stand and recreating structural heterogeneity that is naturally occurring in natural old forests.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

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Afforestation of Boreal Open Woodlands: Early Performance and Ecophysiology of Planted Black Spruce Seedlings

Tremblay

Boucher

Tremblay³

et al. 2013

Forests

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Abstract:Open lichen woodlands (LWs) are degraded stands that lack the ability to regenerate naturally due to a succession of natural and/or anthropogenic disturbances. As they represent both interesting forest restoration and carbon sequestration opportunities, we tested disc scarification and planting of two sizes of containerized black spruce (Picea mariana Mill. (BSP)) seedlings for their afforestation. We compared treatment of unproductive LWs to reforestation of harvested, closed-crown black spruce-feathermoss (BSFM) stands. After one year, seedling survival and nutritional status were equivalent among stand types but despite higher root elongation index (REI), planted seedlings in LWs had lower relative growth rate, smaller total biomass and stem diameter than those in BSFM stands. Soil fertility variables, soil temperature, nor seedling water potential, helped at explaining this early growth response. Disc scarification significantly improved seedling first-year survival, biomass and foliar nutrient concentrations of P, Ca, and Mg. Smaller planting stock showed higher REI, higher shoot water potential, and higher foliar nutrient concentration of all but one of the measured nutrients (N, P, K and Mg). Hence, preliminary results suggest that planting of smaller containerized black spruce stock, combined with disc scarification, shows potential for afforestation of unproductive LWs. The impact of the lichen mat and other potential growth limiting factors on afforestation of these sites requires further investigation. OPEN ACCESSForests 2013, 4 434

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Afforestation of Boreal Open Woodlands: Early Performance and Ecophysiology of Planted Black Spruce Seedlings

Tremblay

Boucher

Tremblay³

et al. 2013

Forests

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“…Moreover, adequate silvicultural strategies may maintain the resilience of desired states and transform the undesirable states [57]. The afforestation of boreal open woodlands such as LWs is also interesting when considering the greenhouse gas mitigation potential it represents in both North America and Russia [18][19][20], in spite of possible limitations that also need to be addressed [53,58] in addition to the need for long-term evaluation of the site resilience to disturbance and plantation productivity.…”

Section: Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This human-induced conversion of open to closed-crown stands can help realize at least two goals: restore the historical tree density in the boreal forest zone [4,6,10,16], and contribute to climate change mitigation through the afforestation of non-forest areas [17][18][19]. Afforestation efforts in the boreal zone, where manageable open woodlands such as LWs are theoretically abundant in both North America and Russia [19,20], could represent an eventual significant mitigation measures, especially because land use change in boreal territories generates very few conflicts with other human activities, thanks to the uninhabited-and unsuitable for cultivation-nature of the boreal forest [17,19]. However, very few field validations of the support capacity of LWs (and boreal open woodlands in general) to afforestation presently exist, so that this theoretical mitigation potential can get closer to a field-supported feasibility.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lichen-Spruce Woodland Early Indicators of Ecological Resilience Following Silvicultural Disturbances in Québec’s Closed-Crown Forest Zone

Gonzalez

Hébert

Boucher

et al. 2013

AJPS

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Lichen woodlands (LW) located in the closed-crown boreal forest are not a successional stage moving towards a closed black spruce feathermoss stand (FM), but an alternative stable state, due to their previous forest history, and the occurrence of LWs located nearby closed-crown FM stands. Therefore, afforestation in those LWs through site preparation and plantation could shift back LW into FM stands. We implemented an experimental design with different combinations of silvicultural treatments in both site types (LW, FM). We monitored the evolution of plant diversity and the physiology of three bio-indicators (Picea mariana, Kalmia angustifolia, Rhododendron groenlandicum) in different microsites created by the silvicultural treatments. The return to the initial composition was noticed only two years after treatments, especially in the LW stands, thus indicating a higher level of early ecosystem resilience in LWs compared to FM stands. Mean species cover, especially in the FM stands, decreased the most in the skid trails created by logging, probably due to a lack of acclimation of bryophytes to open stand conditions. Conversely, ericaceous shrubs and lichens found in the LWs were already acclimated to open stand conditions, which give to LWs a restructuring advantage compared to FM plant communities after silvicultural treatments. Overall, FM and LW short-term resilience was similar, indicating equally efficient ecosystem reorganization in both stands. The comparable early resilience in managed LW and FM stands, in terms of plant biodiversity, contradicts the presumed fragility of LW stands, especially in this case where LWs are assumed to be an alternative stable state created by compound disturbances. Silvicultural treatments maintained the functional group diversity in LWs, a key element for ecosystem resilience. Therefore, this study support the idea that plantation following site preparation in LWs could be a valuable management strategy to reach several objectives, such as increasing forest carbon sinks.

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“…Forest management could exploit NPP (Net primary productivity) for carbon sequestration in forests or biomass production for bio-energy through climate change mitigation (Karoshi et al 2010). In this context, many countries carried out a series of terrestrial plant attempts, such as plantation of marginal agricultural land (Niu and Duiker 2006), conservation reserve program (CRP) (Gelfand et al 2011) in the USA, afforestation of open woodlands (Boucher et al 2012), afforestation of agricultural land (Arevalo et al 2011) in Canada and forest restoration projects in China (Qin et al 2013). In 2008, the United Nations launched the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation Programme (REDD), which is among the most prominent of recent attempts to mitigate climate change (Agrawal et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon sequestration from China’s afforestation projects

Miao

Cui

et al. 2015

Environ Earth Sci

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Since the late 1970s, the Chinese government has implemented massive afforestation projects to address grievous environmental disasters, protect human health and provide long-term environmental security. Having a better understanding of the total carbon sink from the afforestation projects is fundamental to assess its global carbon benefit. Here, the sequestered carbon stock based on Chinese national forest inventory data is calculated by using three comparable volume-derived biomass models. Results show that the carbon sink contribution from these Chinese afforestation projects was 1.02 Pg C by the end of 2008 and 0.79 Pg C on average from 1981 to 2008 with a cumulative rate of 0.028 Pg C/a, which corresponds to 2 % of the total industrial carbon emissions from China during the same period. The financial value of carbon sequestration from these projects can be estimated by its value in carbon taxes of Finland and is potentially 190 billion RMB from 1981 to 2008, which is 43.4 % of the original investment. Hence although China's afforestation projects make only modest contributions to offsetting industrial growth in carbon, the carbon sequestered, if valued according to some markets, is a significant fraction of the total project costs.

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Can boreal afforestation help offset incompressible GHG emissions from Canadian industries?

Cited by 30 publications

References 45 publications

Afforestation of Boreal Open Woodlands: Early Performance and Ecophysiology of Planted Black Spruce Seedlings

Afforestation of Boreal Open Woodlands: Early Performance and Ecophysiology of Planted Black Spruce Seedlings

Lichen-Spruce Woodland Early Indicators of Ecological Resilience Following Silvicultural Disturbances in Québec’s Closed-Crown Forest Zone

Carbon sequestration from China’s afforestation projects

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Can boreal afforestation help offset incompressible GHG emissions from Canadian industries?

Cited by 30 publications

References 45 publications

Afforestation of Boreal Open Woodlands: Early Performance and Ecophysiology of Planted Black Spruce Seedlings

Afforestation of Boreal Open Woodlands: Early Performance and Ecophysiology of Planted Black Spruce Seedlings

Lichen-Spruce Woodland Early Indicators of Ecological Resilience Following Silvicultural Disturbances in Qu&#233;bec’s Closed-Crown Forest Zone

Carbon sequestration from China’s afforestation projects

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Product

Resources

About

Lichen-Spruce Woodland Early Indicators of Ecological Resilience Following Silvicultural Disturbances in Québec’s Closed-Crown Forest Zone