Simulating switchgrass biomass production across ecoregions using the DAYCENT model

Lee, Juhwan; Pedroso, Gabriel Munhoz; Linquist, Bruce A.; Putnam, Daniel H.; Kessel, Chris van; Six, Johan

doi:10.1111/j.1757-1707.2011.01140.x

Cited by 52 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…This improvement can be mainly explained by an increase in LE for biofuel crops leading to cooling effects that contribute to climate warming mitigation. The synergistic effect of fertilization and irrigation significantly improves the CWMP of biofuel crops, especially for corn, similar to previous studies (Lee et al ., ). This management triples CWMP of corn from 20.5 g C m −2 to 79.6 g C m −2 in the scenario where both croplands and marginal lands were converted to bioenergy crops.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Importance of biophysical effects on climate warming mitigation potential of biofuel crops over the conterminous United States

et al. 2016

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Current quantification of climate warming mitigation potential (CWMP) of biomass-derived energy has focused primarily on its biogeochemical effects. This study used site-level observations of carbon, water, and energy fluxes of biofuel crops to parameterize and evaluate the community land model (CLM) and estimate CO 2 fluxes, surface energy balance, soil carbon dynamics of corn (Zea mays), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), and miscanthus (Miscanthus 9 giganteus) ecosystems across the conterminous United States considering different agricultural management practices and land-use scenarios. We find that neglecting biophysical effects underestimates the CWMP of transitioning from croplands and marginal lands to energy crops. Biogeochemical effects alone result in changes in carbon storage of À1.9, 49.1, and 69.3 g C m À2 y À1 compared to 20.5, 78.5, and 96.2 g C m À2 y À1when considering both biophysical and biogeochemical effects for corn, switchgrass, and miscanthus, respectively. The biophysical contribution to CWMP is dominated by changes in latent heat fluxes. Using the model to optimize growth conditions through fertilization and irrigation increases the CWMP further to 79.6, 98.3, and 118.8 g C m À2 y À1 , respectively, representing the upper threshold for CWMP. Results also show that the CWMP over marginal lands is lower than that over croplands. This study highlights that neglecting the biophysical effects of altered surface energy and water balance underestimates the CWMP of transitioning to bioenergy crops at regional scales.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Importance of biophysical effects on climate warming mitigation potential of biofuel crops over the conterminous United States

et al. 2016

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“…While the negative NEE at our site implied considerable sequestration, soil respiration (10.99 t CO 2 ha −1 yr −1 ) offset a large portion and dominated the GHG flux at the soil surface. This value was within the same range as other Miscanthus plantations (Wanga et al ., ; Behnke et al ., ; Case et al ., ), as well as other bioenergy crops: switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum ) (Frank et al ., ; Lee et al ., ), maize ( Zea mays ) (Rochette et al ., ; Ding et al ., ) and short rotation coppice (SRC) poplar ( Populus spp.) (Verlinden et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

AMiscanthusplantation can be carbon neutral without increasing soil carbon stocks

et al. 2016

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National governments and international organizations perceive bioenergy, from crops such as Miscanthus, to have an important role in mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and combating climate change. In this research, we address three objectives aimed at reducing uncertainty regarding the climate change mitigation potential of commercial Miscanthus plantations in the United Kingdom: (i) to examine soil temperature and moisture as potential drivers of soil GHG emissions through four years of parallel measurements, (ii) to quantify carbon (C) dynamics associated with soil sequestration using regular measurements of topsoil (0-30 cm) C and the surface litter layer and (iii) to calculate a life cycle GHG budget using site-specific measurements, enabling the GHG intensity of Miscanthus used for electricity generation to be compared against coal and natural gas. Our results show that methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions contributed little to the overall GHG budget of Miscanthus, while soil respiration offset 30% of the crop's net aboveground C uptake. Temperature sensitivity of soil respiration was highest during crop growth and lowest during winter months. We observed no significant change in topsoil C or nitrogen stocks following 7 years of Miscanthus cultivation. The depth of litter did, however, increase significantly, stabilizing at approximately 7 tonnes dry biomass per hectare after 6 years. The cradle-to-farm gate GHG budget of this crop indicated a net removal of 24.5 t CO 2 -eq ha À1 yr À1 from the atmosphere despite no detectable C sequestration in soils. When scaled up to consider the full life cycle, Miscanthus fared very well in comparison with coal and natural gas, suggesting considerable CO 2 offsetting per kWh generated. Although the comparison does not account for the land area requirements of the energy generated, Miscanthus used for electricity generation can make a significant contribution to climate change mitigation even when combusted in conventional steam turbine power plants.

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“…The spatial and temporal scope of the model lies in between that of dedicated crop growth models (Miguez et al ., ) and generalized earth climate system models (Anderson et al ., ; Hallgren et al ., ). DayCent has been used extensively to predict yields and environmental impacts of switchgrass cultivation (Adler et al ., ; Chamberlain et al ., ; Davis et al ., ; Lee et al ., ) and is also used to predict agricultural soil GHG emissions for the annual Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(). The CENTURY model was among the first to be applied to bioenergy sustainability assessment, and it and its derivative DayCent model have been widely used to evaluate corn grain production, corn stover removal, and the dedicated cultivation of switchgrass and Miscanthus from the level of individual sites to national scales (Sheehan et al ., ; Kim & Dale, ; Chamberlain et al ., ; Davis et al ., ; Lee et al ., ; Duval et al ., ). The Environmental Policy Integrated Climate model has also been applied extensively to bioenergy feedstocks in the context of economic analyses (Jain et al ., ; Egbendewe‐Mondzozo et al ., ) and environmental sustainability assessments (Gelfand et al ., ) at scales from regional (Zhang et al ., ) to global (Kang et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Ecosystem model parameterization and adaptation for sustainable cellulosic biofuel landscape design

et al. 2016

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Renewable fuel standards in the US and elsewhere mandate the production of large quantities of cellulosic biofuels with low greenhouse gas (GHG) footprints, a requirement which will likely entail extensive cultivation of dedicated bioenergy feedstock crops on marginal agricultural lands. Performance data for such systems is sparse, and non-linear interactions between the feedstock species, agronomic management intensity, and underlying soil and land characteristics complicate the development of sustainable landscape design strategies for low-impact commercial-scale feedstock production. Process-based ecosystem models are valuable for extrapolating field trial results and making predictions of productivity and associated environmental impacts that integrate the effects of spatially variable environmental factors across diverse production landscapes. However, there are few examples of ecosystem model parameterization against field trials on both prime and marginal lands or of conducting landscape-scale analyses at sufficient resolution to capture interactions between soil type, land use, and management intensity. In this work we used a data-diverse, multi-criteria approach to parameterize and validate the DayCent biogeochemistry model for upland and lowland switchgrass using data on yields, soil carbon changes, and soil nitrous oxide emissions from US field trials spanning a range of climates, soil types, and management conditions. We then conducted a high-resolution case study analysis of a real-world cellulosic biofuel landscape in Kansas in order to estimate feedstock production potential and associated direct biogenic GHG emissions footprint. Our results suggest that switchgrass yields and emissions balance can vary greatly across a landscape large enough to supply a biorefinery in response to variations in soil type and land-use history, but that within a given land base both of these performance factors can be widely modulated by changing management intensity. This in turn implies a large sustainable cellulosic biofuel landscape design space within which a system can be optimized to meet economic or environmental objectives.

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Simulating switchgrass biomass production across ecoregions using the DAYCENT model

Cited by 52 publications

References 69 publications

Importance of biophysical effects on climate warming mitigation potential of biofuel crops over the conterminous United States

Importance of biophysical effects on climate warming mitigation potential of biofuel crops over the conterminous United States

AMiscanthusplantation can be carbon neutral without increasing soil carbon stocks

Ecosystem model parameterization and adaptation for sustainable cellulosic biofuel landscape design

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