Carbon Sequestration in Forest Ecosystems Amid growing concerns about increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, mitigation techniques that reduce levels of greenhouse gases are receiving attention as a possible remedy for climate change. Forest ecosystems play an important role in the global carbon cycle, but there are still questions about how significant of a role they play and how manipulating management plans affects a forested area’s carbon sequestration potential. Various factors such as land-use history, age of a forest stand, and potential feedback processes must all be taken into account when determining if forests are a feasible method of climate change mitigation. The implications of forested areas …show more content…
Given that there are numerous economical and political obstacles in regulating global carbon emissions, methods for enhancing rates of natural carbon sequestration can ideally serve as substitutes for government regulation, but more realistically are only a portion of the solution. Terrestrial carbon sequestration is a process whereby carbon in the form of carbon dioxide is taken from the atmosphere through photosynthesis by plants and converted to biomass in a form that will not be quickly reemitted to the atmosphere (United States Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2006). The carbon in the biomass is either in durable form such as wood, which acts as a carbon sink until it is decomposed or used for fuel, or is in vegetative material that can act as a carbon sink in the soil until it decays. A large proportion of carbon found in a forested ecosystem is in the form of soil organic carbon (SOC), which is a combination of plant and animal residues in various stages of decomposition in the soil, while living vegetation accounts for the remaining carbon (Lal, 2004). Turnover times for the various forms of carbon in a forest differ greatly, ranging from some mineralized forms of SOC taking decades to decompose to leaf litter that decays every year, raising into question the effectiveness for long term carbon storage in forests (Lal, 2004). However, ignoring instances where a forest may be a carbon source, in general, forested areas and the management practices associated
When trees are burned, CO2 is relinquished. The burning of astronomically immense areas of trees is known as deforestation. Human activities integrate more CO2 into the atmosphere through activities like the burning of fossil fuels. The guiding question of this investigation is, “Which carbon cycle process affects atmospheric carbon the most?” The researchers initially wanted to learn 2 things. First, the researchers wanted to learn how much carbon engenderment there would be if they incremented the amount of fossil fuels burnt by a certain amount. The researchers also wanted to learn how much carbon engenderment there would be if they incremented the amount of deforestation.
Forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change because they act as a carbon sink soaking up carbon dioxide that would otherwise be free in the atmosphere and contribute to ongoing changes in climate patterns. Deforestation undermines this important carbon sink function. It is estimated that 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions are the
In today’s world, the topic of energy is dominated by one thing: ancient organic matter. Carbon and oxygen that existed in this matter when it was alive is still present and is released in the form of carbon dioxide when the coal and oil it was compressed into is burned. The problem is that the carbon that was buried over millions of years was never naturally supposed to be released back into the atmosphere it used to exist in at such an alarming rate. The amount of carbon dioxide flooding into our atmosphere needs to be limited or there will be severe consequences in our future.
Global warming and climate change attributed to increased emission of greenhouse gases have continued to be pressing issues in today’s society since they threaten the stability of the climate, population, and economy of the world (“Meeting the Energy Challenge”, 2007). The challenges associated with global warming and climate change is attributed to the fact that 75 percent of world’s carbon dioxide
The trees’ ability to remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere is well known. The process of photosynthesis not only results in the release of oxygen but also traps carbon dioxide (CO2) in the tree’s wood. Urban trees can also affect climate change but are not always considered for this purpose because their impact is difficult to quantify. In an article published in the Journal of Environmental Management, David
Forests control the amounts of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere therefore contributing to global warming. However we as a planet have a problem… deforestation.
In North America, the boreal forest is known to be one of the largest carbon storage systems. A boreal forest is a biome that is made up of trees such as pines, spruces and another conifer species, the Black Spruce being one of the most essential species of the boreal forest. Fires may be a significant element to the ecosystem in terms of maintaining an ideal community by selecting for species and their traits that, in return, shape the environment, however forest fires are causing the Black Spruce species to deteriorate in population size due to the effects of the fires, caused by a rise in temperature. Clearly, temperature is the leading factor causing constant wildland fires across North America. This concludes the degree of heat intensity in the environment is
This carbon project has been validated and registered through a credible third-party certification system (the Verified Carbon Standard). The effort will contribute to long-term systemic change, benefitting the atmosphere and the forest ecosystem, and has been designed to produce verifiable carbon offsets in the future.
“Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations have increased by approximately 40% since the start of the Industrial Revolution” (Wilmers et al. 2012). This increase in atmospheric CO₂ is a leading cause and contributor to Earth’s climate change with effects such as: “measurable global heat retention and elevated atmospheric temperatures, partial melting of the polar ice caps, ocean acidification, and a host of other impacts on Earth’s environments” (Wilmers et al. 2012). Earth’s ecosystems are combating this climate change by helping reduce the concentration of CO₂ and “sequestering C” (Carbon) in the atmosphere through “photosynthesis” (Wilmers et al. 2012). “Kelp forests are among
The “Gore Method” of reducing CO2 emissions is also extremely difficult to accomplish due to having to come to an agreement with every single country and police their efforts to reduce CO2 emissions (Lomborg, 2009).
Deforestation is another known contributor to global climate change. This is by contributing to global warming. According to Nanda (2011), trees are the main absorber of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Therefore, deforestation contributes global warming because less carbon dioxide was absorbed. Furthermore, decaying of these trees produces carbon dioxide. Therefore, governments should make legislation aimed at conserving and rehabilitating destroyed forests (Solomon et al., 2011).
To use forests for their lumber and other natural resources, it is important to not only be informed on managing it, but it is also important to know what goes on naturally inside the forests. One of these natural phenomena are actually the threats to the forests themselves and how they can be affected by them. Canada has one-tenth of the world's forest and about 50,000 hectares of this is untouched (Dearden and Mitchell, 2016, P.287). With that, it also has one-third of the world's boreal forest as well (P.287). The chosen topic of this paper is Natural threats to Canadian forests. The specific situation chosen is how the climate change affects the natural threats to the Canadian boreal forests. The topic was chosen because it is relevant
Global warming has been a controversial topic for years and some have even denied its existence; however, as more studies are being published every day in regards to our changing climate, it is hard to ignore this growing issue and how humans contribute to it. The term greenhouse gases refers to the group of gases that are primarily responsible for global warming and chief among these gases is carbon dioxide. Rising carbon dioxide levels can be attributed to a combination of burning fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum as well as deforestation in general ( Source A). To slow the effects of global warming, it is important for leaders in our society to consider their greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide, and make
The Wilderness Society’s Governing Council states that “No other ecosystem in the world can store as much carbon as do these forests, and it’s a capacity they have not yet begun to reach” (Bert5). Trees are very important to all of the living species. The cutting down of the trees is now nearly 4 billion trees or 35% of the total trees cut around the