Short-term effects of thinning, clear-cutting and stump harvesting on methane exchange in a boreal forest

Sundqvist, Elin; Vestin, Patrik; Crill, Patrick; Persson, Tryggve; Lindroth, Anders

doi:10.5194/bg-11-6095-2014

Cited by 35 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Similarly, the CH 4 sink strength assigned to the forest ecosystem was obtained from the average value that strictly represented all the non-mire ecosystems within the landscape (i.e., forests, lakes, and streams). Considering other potential CH 4 sources such as boreal lakes and clear-cuts (Karlsson, Giesler, Persson, & Lundin, 2013;Sundqvist et al, 2014), the actual CH 4 sink strength by boreal forest ecosystems may be stronger than the value derived in this study.…”

Section: Roles Of Boreal Ecosystems and Management Practices In Thecontrasting

confidence: 55%

“…Similarly, the CH 4 sink strength assigned to the forest ecosystem was obtained from the average value that strictly represented all the non‐mire ecosystems within the landscape (i.e., forests, lakes, and streams). Considering other potential CH 4 sources such as boreal lakes and clear‐cuts (Karlsson, Giesler, Persson, & Lundin, ; Sundqvist et al, ), the actual CH 4 sink strength by boreal forest ecosystems may be stronger than the value derived in this study. Thus, the boreal forest mosaic of stands in different age classes represents an important land cover that accumulates large amounts of C through an enhanced GHG uptake from the atmosphere and a reduced aquatic C loss to streams relative to other boreal ecosystems in the landscape.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

“…Active forest management modifies not only the standing stock of trees but also the ground vegetation and the forest floor microclimate, for example, resulting in warmer soil temperature, higher soil moisture, and rise in water table level (Vestin, 2017). For example, clear-cutting may generate potentially large amounts of soil CO 2 and CH 4 emissions, as well as enhance C losses via stream discharge (Fredeen, Waughtal, & Pypker, 2007;Laudon et al, 2009;Sundqvist, Vestin, Crill, Persson, & Lindroth, 2014). Meanwhile, thinning may have a minor effect on the annual net CO 2 uptake (Lindroth et al, 2018) but may reduce soil CH 4 uptake in boreal forests (Vesala et al, 2005;Vestin, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Net Landscape Carbon Balance—Integrating terrestrial and aquatic carbon fluxes in a managed boreal forest landscape in Sweden

Chi

Nilsson

Laudon

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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The boreal biome exchanges large amounts of carbon (C) and greenhouse gases (GHGs) with the atmosphere and thus significantly affects the global climate. A managed boreal landscape consists of various sinks and sources of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and dissolved organic and inorganic carbon (DOC and DIC) across forests, mires, lakes, and streams. Due to the spatial heterogeneity, large uncertainties exist regarding the net landscape carbon balance (NLCB). In this study, we compiled terrestrial and aquatic fluxes of CO2, CH4, DOC, DIC, and harvested C obtained from tall‐tower eddy covariance measurements, stream monitoring, and remote sensing of biomass stocks for an entire boreal catchment (~68 km2) in Sweden to estimate the NLCB across the land–water–atmosphere continuum. Our results showed that this managed boreal forest landscape was a net C sink (NLCB = 39 g C m−2 year−1) with the landscape–atmosphere CO2 exchange being the dominant component, followed by the C export via harvest and streams. Accounting for the global warming potential of CH4, the landscape was a GHG sink of 237 g CO2‐eq m−2 year−1, thus providing a climate‐cooling effect. The CH4 flux contribution to the annual GHG budget increased from 0.6% during spring to 3.2% during winter. The aquatic C loss was most significant during spring contributing 8% to the annual NLCB. We further found that abiotic controls (e.g., air temperature and incoming radiation) regulated the temporal variability of the NLCB whereas land cover types (e.g., mire vs. forest) and management practices (e.g., clear‐cutting) determined their spatial variability. Our study advocates the need for integrating terrestrial and aquatic fluxes at the landscape scale based on tall‐tower eddy covariance measurements combined with biomass stock and stream monitoring to develop a holistic understanding of the NLCB of managed boreal forest landscapes and to better evaluate their potential for mitigating climate change.

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Section: Roles Of Boreal Ecosystems and Management Practices In Thecontrasting

confidence: 55%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Net Landscape Carbon Balance—Integrating terrestrial and aquatic carbon fluxes in a managed boreal forest landscape in Sweden

Chi

Nilsson

Laudon

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The clear‐cut area was also compared with an adjacent undisturbed forest plot and a thinned forest plot with regard to CH 4 exchange. In contrast to the clear‐cut, the two forested plots were drier and were net sinks of CH 4 (Sundqvist, Vestin, Crill, Persson, & Lindroth, ).…”

Section: Effects On Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stump harvesting for bioenergy: A review of climatic and environmental impacts in northern Europe and America

Persson

Egnell²

2018

WIREs Energy & Environment

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Stump harvesting is defined as an intensification of forest management in comparison with stem-only harvesting and removal of tops and branches. It increases soil mixing and the proportion of bare soil. In contrast to earlier hypotheses, stump harvesting was found to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), nitrous oxide, and methane in the short term. In the long term, heterotrophic soil CO 2 evolution is reduced. Both model and empirical studies indicate that stump removal can reduce the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool in the short term, but long-term experiments (32-39 years) could not verify any SOC decline. Life cycle assessment studies showed that stumps as fuel resulted in markedly lower emissions of CO 2 into the atmosphere, viewed over a whole forest rotation compared to heating by natural gas and coal. Stump removal does not seem to affect timber production in the next forest rotation and often reduces the infection rate of root rot. It increases the natural regeneration of birch and pine, it can increase nitrate leaching at N-rich sites, and it can increase the number of water-filled cavities where methylmercury is formed. Stump extraction decreases the amount of dwarf shrubs in young clearcuts, but after 1-2 decades, these species are generally recovered. Many species dependent on dead wood are adversely affected by intense stump harvest. Model studies suggest that the risk of species extinction is small when only 10% of the total clear-cut area in the forest landscape is stump harvested, but the risk of extinction rises at increasing extraction intensities.

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“…Fluxes were calculated from the rate of increase in concentration using the steepest linear portion of the accumulation curve as a function of time elapsed after the chamber was closed, adjusting to chamber volume and covered area, as proposed by Abichou et al (2006). For a significantly non-zero flow, r 2 would have to be less than 0.3 (SUNDQVIST et al, 2014). RBCIAMB | n.54 | dez 2019 | 13-33 -ISSN 2176-9478…”

Section: Carbon Dioxide and Methane Flux Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medidas De Fluxo De Dióxido De Carbono E Metano Em Um Depósito De Resíduos Insalubre Na Amazônia

Pinheiro¹,

Cattânio

Imbiriba³

et al. 2019

Rev. Bras. Ciênc. Ambient. (Online)

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Dumps are important anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, mostly CH 4 . However, few studies on the subject have been carried out in the Amazon region. Several factors affect the production and emission of dumps gases. The objective of this study was to quantify the spatial variation of CO 2 and CH 4 production in an Amazonian dump and seek the relationship between the relative importance of some environmental factors and the gas fluxes. This study was carried out in an open-air dump in the metropolitan region of Belém, where approximately 11.0 million Mg of waste was deposited within 25 years, of which 6.4 million Mg were organic. The CH 4 and CO 2 emission rates from the surface of the dump were determined using the closed dynamic flux chamber technique. The study was conducted in three cells of different ages, sampled in two times between the rainy and the dry season in Amazon. The Aurá dump has an area of 30 ha and emits a total of 51.49 Mg CO 2 ha -1 month -1 and 3.16 Mg CH 4 ha -1 month -1 to the atmosphere. This results in an expressive production of 1,359,961.04 Mg CO 2 -e y -1 , being that 58.54% is due to CH 4 flux. The spatial variability in CO 2 and CH 4 fluxes is very large, especially for CH 4 , forming hotspots of high concentrations. Perhaps for this reason, the flow has not been correlated with micrometeorological variations.

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Short-term effects of thinning, clear-cutting and stump harvesting on methane exchange in a boreal forest

Cited by 35 publications

References 51 publications

The Net Landscape Carbon Balance—Integrating terrestrial and aquatic carbon fluxes in a managed boreal forest landscape in Sweden

The Net Landscape Carbon Balance—Integrating terrestrial and aquatic carbon fluxes in a managed boreal forest landscape in Sweden

Stump harvesting for bioenergy: A review of climatic and environmental impacts in northern Europe and America

Medidas De Fluxo De Dióxido De Carbono E Metano Em Um Depósito De Resíduos Insalubre Na Amazônia

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