Improving wood carbon fractions for multiscale forest carbon estimation

IF 3.9 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Carbon Balance and Management Pub Date : 2024-08-14 DOI:10.1186/s13021-024-00272-2

Mahendra Doraisami, Grant M. Domke, Adam R. Martin

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Wood carbon fractions (CFs)—the proportion of dry woody biomass comprised of elemental carbon (C)—are a key component of forest C estimation protocols and studies. Traditionally, a wood CF of 50% has been assumed in forest C estimation protocols, but recent studies have specifically quantified differences in wood CFs across several different forest biomes and taxonomic divisions, negating the need for generic wood CF assumptions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its 2006 “Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories”, published its own multitiered system of protocols for estimating forest C stocks, which included wood CFs that (1) were based on the best available literature (at the time) and (2) represented a significant improvement over the generic 50% wood CF assumption. However, a considerable number of new studies on wood CFs have been published since 2006, providing more accurate, robust, and spatially- and taxonomically- specific wood CFs for use in forest C estimation.

Main text

We argue that the IPCC’s recommended wood CFs and those in many other forest C estimation models and protocols (1) differ substantially from, and are less robust than, wood CFs derived from recently published data-rich studies; and (2) may lead to nontrivial errors in forest C estimates, particularly for countries that rely heavily on Tier 1 forest C methods and protocols (e.g., countries of the Global South with large expanses of tropical forests). Based on previous studies on this topic, we propose an alternative set of refined wood CFs for use in multiscale forest C estimation, and propose a novel decision-making framework for integrating species- and location-specific wood CFs into forest C estimation models.

Conclusion

The refined wood CFs that we present in this commentary may be used by the IPCC to update its recommended wood CFs for use in forest C estimation. Additionally, we propose a novel decision-making framework for integrating data-driven wood CFs into a wider suite of multitiered forest C estimation protocols, models, and studies.

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为多尺度森林碳估算改进木碳组分。

背景：木材碳组分（CFs）--干木质生物量中元素碳（C）所占的比例--是森林碳估算规程和研究的关键组成部分。传统上，森林碳估算规程假定木质碳分数为 50%，但最近的研究已具体量化了多个不同森林生物群落和分类学分区中木质碳分数的差异，从而否定了通用木质碳分数假设的必要性。政府间气候变化专门委员会 (IPCC) 在其 2006 年的《国家温室气体清单指南》中发布了自己的多层次森林碳储量估算规程系统，其中包括木材碳储量：(1) 基于（当时）可获得的最佳文献；(2) 与通用的 50% 木材碳储量假设相比有了显著改进。然而，自 2006 年以来，又有大量关于木材碳储量的新研究发表，为森林碳储量估算提供了更准确、更可靠、更符合空间和分类学特征的木材碳储量：我们认为，IPCC 推荐的木材碳储量以及许多其它森林碳储量估算模型和规程中的木材碳储量（1）与最近发表的数据丰富的研究中得出的木材碳储量存在很大差异，而且不够稳健；（2）可能导致森林碳储量估算出现非轻微误差，尤其是对于严重依赖第一级森林碳储量方法和规程的国家（如拥有大片热带森林的全球南部国家）而言。基于之前的相关研究，我们提出了一套用于多尺度森林碳储量估算的精炼木材碳储量，并提出了一个新的决策框架，用于将特定物种和地点的木材碳储量整合到森林碳储量估算模型中：我们在本评论中提出的经改进的木材CFs可被IPCC用于更新其推荐的木材CFs，以用于森林碳估算。此外，我们还提出了一个新颖的决策框架，用于将数据驱动的木材碳储量整合到更广泛的多层次森林碳储量估算协议、模型和研究中。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Carbon Balance and Management Environmental Science-Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

CiteScore

7.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Carbon Balance and Management is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal that encompasses all aspects of research aimed at developing a comprehensive policy relevant to the understanding of the global carbon cycle. The global carbon cycle involves important couplings between climate, atmospheric CO2 and the terrestrial and oceanic biospheres. The current transformation of the carbon cycle due to changes in climate and atmospheric composition is widely recognized as potentially dangerous for the biosphere and for the well-being of humankind, and therefore monitoring, understanding and predicting the evolution of the carbon cycle in the context of the whole biosphere (both terrestrial and marine) is a challenge to the scientific community. This demands interdisciplinary research and new approaches for studying geographical and temporal distributions of carbon pools and fluxes, control and feedback mechanisms of the carbon-climate system, points of intervention and windows of opportunity for managing the carbon-climate-human system. Carbon Balance and Management is a medium for researchers in the field to convey the results of their research across disciplinary boundaries. Through this dissemination of research, the journal aims to support the work of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) and to provide governmental and non-governmental organizations with instantaneous access to continually emerging knowledge, including paradigm shifts and consensual views.