The scientists examined the issue by measuring the isotopic composition of carbon in the wood along the intense rainfall gradient in their study zone.
If hydraulic limitation alone were to set maximum tree height the carbon isotope composition should not vary
But if both factors limit tree height the heavier carbon isotopes should accumulate in moister areas where faster photosynthesis (enhanced by wide-open stomata) can balance the costs of building more wood in taller trees.
The environment surrounding the atom-thick carbon material can influence its electronic performance according to researchers at Rice
and significantly alter the cycling of carbon and nutrients in woodland ecosystems according to a new study.
The difference between the absorption of carbon dioxide via photosynthesis by trees and the release of carbon by microbes determines the overall carbon balance of the forest.
Saprotrophic fungi control the cycling of carbon and nutrients from wood in forests and their responses to changes in microclimate driven by fragmentation
whether forests are a carbon source or sink. The southern UK has a temperate climate with moderate temperatures and rainfall.
because healthy kelp forests can grow rapidly and store large amounts of carbon. Dr. Martone's analyses of the effects of sea otters on kelp forest ecosystems can help shape predictions of how climate change
Dr. Riehl and her team measured the grains'content of two stable carbon isotopes. When barley grass gets insufficient water
while growing the proportion of heavier carbon isotopes deposited in its cells will be higher than normal.
Their excellent preservation will allow for DNA testing as well as Carbon 14 dating. Many of the seeds excavated in 2012 and 2013 have been analyzed by Chiara Comegna in the laboratory of Gaetano di Pasquale at the University of Naples Federico II using a morphometric program originally devised for tomato seeds.
The carbon loss from increasing tree mortality and disturbance could however reduce this uptake and reverse the positive effects of forest management aimed at reducing climate change.
In this respect adapted management strategies such as increased biodiversity and optimized thinning interventions in Europe's forests can buffer these carbon losses and support the climate change mitigation function of forests.
Uniform tools to measure, manage greenhouse gas emissionsthe U s. Department of agriculture today released a report that for the first time provides uniform scientific methods for quantifying the changes in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon storage from various land
and forest landowners participate in emerging carbon markets. This report provides science-based methods for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions
and carbon storage on local farms ranches and forests allowing managers of these entities to calculate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions
while building carbon storage and improving production efficiency on their lands said Stephen Ogle associate professor in CSU's Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability and senior scientist at the Natural resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL).
Carbon of course is associated with global warming. Most carbon emissions linked to human activity are in the form of carbon dioxide gas (CO2)
but other forms of carbon include the methane gas (CH4) and the particles generated by such fires--the tiny bits of soot called black carbon and motes of associated substances known as brown carbon.
Jacobson explains that total anthropogenic or human-created carbon dioxide emissions excluding biomass burning now stand at more than 39 billion tons annually.
That incorporates everything associated with non-biomass-burning human activity from coal-fired power plants to automobile emissions from concrete factories to cattle feedlots.
Black carbon and brown carbon maximize the thermal impacts of such fires. They essentially allow biomass burning to cause much more global warming per unit weight than other human-associated carbon sources.
Black and brown carbon particles increase atmospheric warming in three ways. First they enter the minuscule water droplets that form clouds.
At night that's not an issue. But during the day sunlight scatters around within clouds bathing them in luminescence.
or brown carbon particles Jacobson said the carbon absorbs the light energy creating heat and accelerating evaporation of the droplet.
Carbon particles floating around in the spaces between the droplets also absorb scattered sunlight converting it to heat.
Finally Jacobson said carbon particles released from burning biomass settle on snow and ice contributing to further warming.
But because carbon is dark it absorbs sunlight causing snow and ice to melt at accelerated rates.
Jacobson noted that some carbon particles--specifically white and gray carbon the variants associated with some types of ashcan exert a cooling effect
That must be weighed against the warming qualities of the black and brown carbon particles and CO2 emissions generated by biomass combustion to derive a net effect.
and some others--plus the warming caused by black and brown carbon will yield a planetary warming effect of 2 degrees Celsius over the 20-year period simulated by the computer.
#Perus carbon quantified: Economic and conservation boontoday scientists unveiled the first high-resolution map of the carbon stocks stored on land throughout the entire country of Perã.
The new and improved methodology used to make the map marks a sea change for future market-based carbon economies.
The new carbon map also reveals Perã's extremely high ecological diversity and it provides the critical input to studies of deforestation and forest degradation for conservation land use and enforcement purposes.
The technique includes the determination of uncertainty of carbon stores throughout the country which is essential for decision makers.
The mapping project is a joint effort among the Carnegie Airborne Observatory (CAO) led by Carnegie's Greg Asner the Ministry of Environment of Perã and Wake Forest University.
Historically two obstacles have slowed accurate carbon inventories at national scales. The first is the inadequate resolution of satellite mapping data
and markets that depend on timely knowledge of where carbon is stored on land. With its huge range of environments from cold Andean deserts to hot Amazonian rainforests Perã is an ideal country for advancing high-tech carbon inventories.
Asner remarked: The international community wants to use a combination of carbon sequestration and emissions reductions to combat climate change.
Some 15%of global carbon emissions result from deforestation and forest degradation which releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as trees are destroyed.
Our cost-effective approach allows us to accurately map the carbon in this incredibly diverse country for the first time.
It opens Perã's door to carbon sequestration agreements and is an enormous boon to conservation and monitoring efforts over vast areas for the long term.
The critical resolution for carbon monitoring is the hectare (2. 5 acres. It is the world's most common unit of land tenure
and policy enforcement yet very few countries have advanced their carbon monitoring efforts at such high resolution.
The team integrated airborne laser mapping technology using the Carnegie Airborne Observatory with field data
and coupled them with publicly available satellite imagery to scale carbon inventories up to the national level.
The new map reveals that the total aboveground carbon stock of the country is currently 6. 9 billion metric tons.
But the carbon stocks vary by region and land ownership. The average carbon density for Peruvian rainforests is 99 metric tons of carbon per hectare with the maximum density of 168 metric tons of carbon per hectare.
The largest stocks are in the northern Peruvian Amazon and along the Brazil-Perã border.
Regions of deforestation such as Puerto Maldonado where gold mining has ravaged the area had low to no carbon storage.
The team also assessed 174 protected areas finding that for every hectare of forest put into protection an average 95 metric tons of carbon are stored on land with even more carbon sequestered below the soil surface.
Now every person in private enterprise and decision makers in regional local and national government has an estimate of carbon content for every place in Perã.
If you choose carbon as your currency parks in Amazonian Perã are the banks and the bigger the area the closer it gets to being Fort knox. Full Report link ftp://dge. stanford. edu/pub/asner/carbonreport/Carnegieperucarbonreport-English pdfstory Source:
#Strengthening community forest rights is critical tool to fight climate changestrengthening community forest rights is an essential strategy to reduce billions of tonnes of carbon emissions making it an effective way
The paper provides the most comprehensive analysis to date linking legal recognition and government protection of community forest rights with reductions in carbon pollution.
With at least 37 billion tonnes of carbon safely stored in community forests around the world strengthening community rights is good for the climate
and indigenous peoples across the world have recognized government rights to forests containing 37.7 billion tonnes of carbon--equivalent to 29 times the annual emissions from all passenger vehicles in the world.
and settlers from illegally destroying the forests and releasing carbon pollution into the atmosphere. In Brazil alone the report finds strong legal rights could contribute to preventing 27.2 million hectares of deforestation by 2050 translating to 12 billion tonnes of avoided carbon dioxide emissions--the same as about three years'worth of carbon dioxide
and carbon sequestration said Jennifer Morgan Director Climate and Energy Program WRI. When it comes to tackling climate change land rights must be on the list of tools we use.
Indonesia for example the world's second largest emitter of carbon pollution from deforestation and other land uses legally recognizes only one of approximately 42 million hectares of forests held by communities.
Soil respiration releases carbonthe planet's soil releases about 60 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year which is far more than that released by burning fossil fuels.
This enormous release of carbon is balanced by carbon coming into the soil system from falling leaves and other plant matter as well as by the underground activities of plant roots.
As a result scientists have worried that global warming would accelerate the decomposition of carbon in the soil
and decrease the amount of carbon stored there. If true this would release even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere where it would accelerate global warming.
carbon stocks with changing temperature. Their work is published in Nature Climate Change. The team revealed that higher temperatures increased the amount of leaf litter falling onto the soil as well as other underground sources of carbon such as roots.
Surprisingly long-term warming had little effect on the overall storage of carbon in the tropical forest soil or the rate at
which that carbon is processed into carbon dioxide. If these findings hold true in other tropical regions then warmer temperatures may not necessarily cause tropical soils to release their carbon to the atmosphere at a faster rate remarked Asner.
On the other hand we cannot expect that the soil will soak up more carbon in places where vegetation is stimulated by warmer temperatures.
Unlike tropical trees the soil seems to be on the sidelines in the climate adaptation game.
This means the observed increase in the rate of soil respiration accompanying rising temperatures is released due to carbon dioxide by the an uptick in the amount of litter falling on the forest floor and an increase in carbon from underground sources.
It is not from a decrease in the overall amount of carbon stored in the soil Giardina noted
While we found that carbon stored in the mineral soil was insensitive to long-term warming the loss of unprotected carbon responded strongly to temperature.
This tells us that the sensitivity of each source of soil respiration needs to be quantified
and the aggregate response examined before an understanding of ecosystem carbon balance in a warmer world can be achieved.
In another experiment the researchers cultivated the forage plant Panicum maximum at a temperature 2â°C above normal at a carbon concentration of 600 parts per million (ppm) equivalent to twice the amount there is today an amount
By cultivating the plant in an environment with 200 ppm carbon above current levels in a FACE system set up at the Embrapa Environmental Division in Jaguariã na in inland SãO Paulo State the researchers observed an increase
The groundcover systems and nutrients were analyzed for their respective effects on soil organic matter carbon and nitrogen concentration and soil carbon and nitrogen sequestration.
which the authors say was a result of accelerated formation of carbon-and nitrogen-rich soil organic matter.
There is also a need for research to support land use decisions to reconcile economic development great ape conservation and the avoidance of carbon emissions.
Dust grains are composed of elements like carbon silicon oxygen iron and magnesium. But where does the cosmic dust come from?
which the star expels material containing hydrogen helium and carbon. This gas cloud resides as a shell around the star.
#Logging and burning cause the loss of 54 million tons of carbon a year in Amazoniaa study conducted by scientists in Brazil
In combination these factors could be removing nearly 54 million tons of carbon from the forest each year introduced into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases.
This total represents up to 40%of the carbon loss caused by deforestation in the region.
However our study has shown that this other type of degradation is having a severe impact on the forest with enormous quantities of previously stored carbon being lost into the atmosphere said Erika Berenguer researcher from the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University in the United kingdom
The combination of the two investigations resulted in the estimate of carbon stock available today.
what is known as carbon stock. It was the largest study conducted to date regarding carbon loss from tropical forests due to selective logging
and wildfires Ferreira said. According to her the research included four of the five functionally distinct carbon pools
whose study is recommended by the United nations (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): aboveground biomass (live plants) dead organic matter leaf litter (layer that contains a combination of fragments of leaves branches
The only thing we didn't measure was the carbon stock in the roots she said.
or fire had from 18%to 57%less carbon than primary forests. One area of primary forest ended up having more than 300 tons of carbon per hectare
while areas of forest that had been burned or subjected to timber extraction had at most 200 tons per hectare and on average less than 100 tons of carbon per hectare.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Fundaã§Ã£o de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de SãO Paulo.
Therefore carbon nitrogen and sulphur--common elements in the biosphere--act as biogeochemical markers in animal tissues
Authors highlight that carbon and nitrogen analysis are essential in all cases but sulphur is particularly useful to estimate the consumption of Yellow-legged Gulls (Larus michahellis).
#Payback time for soil carbon from pasture conversion to sugarcane productionthe reduction of soil carbon stock caused by the conversion of pasture areas into sugarcane plantations--a very common change in Brazil in recent
and Harvard university Colorado State university and the Shell Technology Center Houston in the United states. Findings from the project Soil carbon stocks on land-use change process to sugarcane production in South-central Brazil carried out with funding from FAPESP
The study indicates that the soil carbon balance of pasture areas converted for the cultivation of sugarcane designed for ethanol production is not as negative as originally estimated said Carlos Clemente Cerri project coordinator and researcher at CENA.
According to Cerri soil from pasture areas has a carbon stock whose volume varies only slightly over the years.
However the process of preparing this type of soil for conversion to sugarcane plantations causes part of the carbon stock to be emitted into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2.
or even add to the initial soil carbon stock when the organic matter and plant residue penetrate the ground.
and carbon they can also result in avoidable losses of biodiversity. They have less value in some ways Putz said and more value in others.
#Kudzu can release soil carbon, accelerate global warmingclemson University scientists are shedding new light on how invasion by exotic plant species affects the ability of soil to store greenhouse gases.
and graduate student Mioko Tamura show that invasive plants can accelerate the greenhouse effect by releasing carbon stored in soil into the atmosphere.
Since soil stores more carbon than both the atmosphere and terrestrial vegetation combined the repercussions for how we manage agricultural land
and ecosystems to facilitate the storage of carbon could be dramatic. In their study Tamura and Tharayil examined the impact of encroachment of Japanese knotweed and kudzu two of North america's most widespread invasive plants on the soil carbon storage in native ecosystems.
They found that kudzu invasion released carbon that was stored in native soils while the carbon amassed in soils invaded by knotweed is more prone to oxidation
and is lost subsequently to the atmosphere. The key seems to be how plant litter chemistry regulates the soil biological activity that facilitates the buildup composition and stability of carbon-trapping organic matter in soil.
Our findings highlight the capacity of invasive plants to effect climate change by destabilizing the carbon pool in soil
and shows that invasive plants can have profound influence on our understanding to manage land in a way that mitigates carbon emissions Tharayil said.
Tharayil estimates that kudzu invasion results in the release of 4. 8 metric tons of carbon annually equal to the amount of carbon stored in 11.8 million acres of U s. forest.
This is the same amount of carbon emitted annually by consuming 540 million gallons of gasoline or burning 5. 1 billion pounds of coal.
Climate change is causing massive range expansion of many exotic and invasive plant species. As the climate warms kudzu will continue to invade northern ecosystems
and its impact on carbon emissions will grow Tharayil said. The findings provide particular insight into agricultural land-management strategies
and suggest that it is the chemistry of plant biomass added to soil rather than the total amount of biomass that has the greatest influence on the ability of soil to harbor stable carbon.
Our study indicates that incorporating legumes such as beans peas soybeans peanuts and lentils that have a higher proportion of nitrogen in its biomass can accelerate the storage of carbon in soils Tharayil said.
Thrarayil's lab is following up this research to gain a deeper understanding of soil carbon storage and invasion.
Tharayil leads a laboratory and research team at Clemson that studies how the chemical and biological interactions that take place in the plant-soil interface shape plant communities.
which play a major role in carbon storage. Our research suggests that as incomes rise in these countries it creates a new opportunity for domestic funding to play a larger role in supporting efforts to protect forests
Our findings provide a strong economic rationale for coupling international payments for carbon storage made to UMI tropical countries with biodiversity payments funded by those countries themselves.
Although we previously documented carbon emissions from land use conversion to oil palm we were stunned by how these oil palm plantations profoundly alter freshwater ecosystems for decades said study co-author
Home to the world's third-largest tropical forest the country is also one of the principal emitters of greenhouse gases due to the rapid conversion of carbon-rich forests and peatlands to other uses.
#Carbon footprint of flowering treeswhy is it important to understand a tree's carbon footprint?
According to researchers Charles R. Hall and Dewayne Ingram authors of a study in the May 2014 issue of Hortscience a plant's carbon footprint is an impact indicator of primary interest to growers
The carbon footprint of plants and trees a measure of all greenhouse gases emitted in a product's life cycle is expressed in units of tons (or kilograms) of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2E.
Knowing the carbon footprint of production and distribution components of field-grown trees will help nursery managers understand the environmental costs associated with their respective systems
Until now we knew we could use mechanical forces to shorten and cut carbon nanotubes. This is the first time we have showed carbon nanotubes can be unzipped using mechanical forces.
The researchers fired pellets of randomly oriented multiwalled carbon nanotubes from a light gas gun built by the Rice lab of materials scientist Enrique Barrera with funding from NASA.
The pellets impacted an aluminum target in a vacuum chamber at about 15000 miles per hour. When they inspected the resulting carbon rubble they found nanotubes that smashed into the target end first
or at a sharp angle simply deformed into a crumpled nanotube. But tubes that hit lengthwise actually split into ribbons with ragged edges.
We were investigating possible applications for carbon nanotubes in space when we got this result.
Ozden explained that the even distribution of stress along the belly-flopping nanotube which is many times longer than it is wide breaks carbon bonds in a line nearly simultaneously.
and biodiversityfossil fuel emissions release billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year which is changing the climate
and Eric Davidson reviews new research conducted by Brazilian colleagues demonstrating the high carbon costs of converting intact Brazilian savanna compared to the carbon gains obtained from converting underutilized pastureland for biofuel
Macedo and Davidson note the new research shows that it would take 17 years of sugar cane production to make up for the carbon losses caused by clearing the Cerrado.
In contrast converting already cleared pastures to sugar cane production provides a nearly immediate carbon payback
and fuel with no further biodiversity loss minimal carbon costs and even a carbon gain
and becoming a competitive low-carbon economy? Taking action and taking a decision on the 2030 climate and energy framework in October will bring us just there
The process of converting silicon oxide (quartz) into pure silicon uses carbon as a reducing agent. Currently the reducing agents used are fossil fuels such as coal and coke.
As species distribution and abundance shift due to climate change interspecific differences in leaf-out timing may affect ecosystem processes such as carbon water
or being able to claim carbon credits. If everything went well you could expect introduction of the low methane trait to begin in three years
Collectively they represent a major terrestrial repository of carbon and play both active CO2 capture and processing and passive storage roles.
Our analysis provides a much more comprehensive understanding of the genetic control of carbon allocation towards cell wall biopolymers in woody plants--a crucial step toward the development of future biomass crops.
Carbon from forest debris has a different elemental mass than carbon produced by algae in the aquatic food chain.
We found fish that had almost 70%of their biomass made from carbon that came from trees
While plankton raised on algal carbon is more nutritious organic carbon from trees washed into lakes is a hugely important food source for freshwater fish bolstering their diet to ensure good size
This study provides support for expanding the use of carbon credits to pay farmers for better fertilizer management.
Carbon credits for fertilizer management are now available to U S. corn farmers. This paper provides a framework for using this system around the world.
which seeks to build scientific communities around cornerstone species of relevance to DOE missions in bioenergy carbon cycling and biogeochemistry.
In the first study of its kind scientists have calculated the amount of carbon absorbed by the world's tropical forests
They found that tropical forests absorb almost two billion tonnes of carbon each year equivalent to one-fifth of the world's carbon emissions by storing it in their bark leaves and soil.
if all human-related deforestation of the tropics were to stop the forests could absorb more carbon than at present equivalent to one-fifth of global emissions.
Researchers say carbon emissions from tropical forests will increase as the climate warms as rising temperatures accelerate the decay of dead plants
Global temperatures are forecast to rise by two degrees by the year 2099 which is predicted to increase annual carbon emissions from the forest by three-quarters of a billion tonnes.
Scientists from the Universities of Edinburgh and Leeds analysed data from multiple previous studies including satellite studies to determine the amount of carbon absorbed
Preventing further losses of carbon from our tropical forests must remain a high priority. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Edinburgh.
and allows forests to store more carbon dioxideevery spring as the weather warms trees in forests up and down the east coast explode in a bright green display of life as leaves fill their branches
Though the fact that forests can store more carbon is a good thing both Keenan
If forests weren't storing additional carbon in this manner we would be even worse off in terms of atmospheric CO2 levels so at the moment it's a good thingâ
Yes 26 million metric tons is a lot of carbon but it's still small when compared to fossil fuel emissions.
#so in the future an earlier spring might not help forests take up more carbon if they end up running out of water in midsummer.
Decomposition matters because the speed at which woody material are broken down strongly influences the retention of carbon in forest ecosystems
and can help to offset the loss of carbon to the atmosphere from other sources.
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