Carbon storage and sequestration by trees in urban and community areas of the United States

Abstract

Carbon storage and sequestration by urban trees in the United States was quantified to assess the magnitude and role of urban forests in relation to climate change. Urban tree field data from 28 cities and 6 states were used to determine the average carbon density per unit of tree cover. These data were applied to statewide urban tree cover measurements to determine total urban forest carbon storage and annual sequestration by state and nationally. Urban whole tree carbon storage densities average 7.69 kg C m À2 of tree cover and sequestration densities average 0.28 kg C m À2 of tree cover per year. Total tree carbon storage in U. S. urban areas (c. 2005) is estimated at 643 million tonnes ($50.5 billion value; 95% CI ¼ 597 million and 690 million tonnes) and annual sequestration is estimated at 25.6 million tonnes ($2.0 billion value; 95% CI ¼ 23.7 million to 27.4 million tonnes).Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The role of ecosystem services in climate and air quality in urban areas: Evaluating carbon sequestration and air pollution removal by street and park trees in Szeged (Hungary)

“…The values for the same categories in the total tree stand of Szeged (in a little colder and drier climate in general) are: 2, 7, 13, 24, 36, 54kg/yr. A review of carbon storage and sequestration values referring to U.S. cities is given by Nowak et al (2013) ) are much higher than those for Szeged, which is due to the fact that these are crowded capital cities. There are also some differences if we look at the amounts of different pollutants separately, e.g.…”

“…Several investigations have been carried out on such issues at micro-and local scales, based on field measurements, models or remotely-sensed data (Cao et al, 2010;Lee et al, 2013;Lehmann et al, 2014). On the other hand, urban tree stands modify the city's climatic characteristics and air quality by the sequestration of carbon dioxide and the removal of various air pollutants, and by reducing stormwater runoff (Jim and Chen, 2008;Kirnbauer et al, 2013;Nowak et al, 2013). Furthermore, trees in particular are considered to have significant aesthetic and eco-psychological values (O'Campo et al, 2009;Tyrväinen et al, 2003).…”

CARBON SEQUESTRATION AND PRODUCTION OF Eucalyptus camaldulensis PLANTATIONS ON MARGINAL SANDY AGRICULTURAL LANDS

“…Carbon was estimated about 50% of dry biomass of the tree. To estimate the monetary value, carbon storage and carbon sequestration were multiplied with $78.5 per ton of carbon as described by Nowak et al (2013).…”

“…They act as carbon sink by storing the carbon as their biomass. However, net long term CO2 storing dynamics of trees change with age, disease and death (Nowak et al, 2013). Over the past decade, numerous studies assessed the carbon sequestration capacity of various woody plants and quantified their contribution towards the global carbon cycle (Niu and Duiker, 2006;Juwarkar et al, 2011;Kumar and Nair, 2011;Biswas et al, 2014;Maggiotto et al, 2014).…”

Development of Evaluation Methodology for Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Production Processes

“…In a sustainably managed forest, carbon storage never stops, as new trees replace harvested ones. It is possible to find many studies [1,2] about carbon storage in forest and wood products, while the studies about CO 2 emissions in forestry are very few, except emissions from forest bioenergy production are widely described [3].…”