Richard A. Birdsey's research while affiliated with Woodwell Climate Research Center and other places
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Publications (113)
Mature and old-growth forests (collectively “mature”) and larger trees are important carbon sinks that are declining worldwide. Information on the carbon value of mature forests and larger trees in the United States has policy relevance for complying with President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14072 directing federal agencies to define and conduct a...
Managing forests for climate change mitigation requires action by diverse stakeholders undertaking different activities with overlapping objectives and spatial impacts. To date, several forest carbon monitoring systems have been developed for different regions using various data, methods and assumptions, making it difficult to evaluate mitigation p...
Large-diameter trees store disproportionally massive amounts of carbon and are a major driver of carbon cycle dynamics in forests worldwide. In the temperate forests of the western United States, proposed changes to Forest Plans would significantly weaken protections for a large portion of trees greater than 53 cm (21 inches) in diameter (herein re...
Forest soils represent a major stock of organic carbon (C) in the
terrestrial biosphere, but the dynamics of soil organic C (SOC) stock are
poorly quantified, largely due to lack of direct field measurements. In this
study, we investigated the 20-year changes in SOC stocks in eight permanent
forest plots, which represent boreal (1998–2014), tempera...
Forest soils represent a major stock of organic carbon (C) in the terrestrial biosphere, but the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) stock are poorly quantified, especially based on direct field measurements. In this study, we investigated the 20-year changes in the SOC stocks at eight sites from southern to northern China. The averaged SOC stock...
Landscape carbon (C) flux estimates help assess the ability of terrestrial ecosystems to buffer further increases in anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Advances in remote sensing have led to coarse-scale estimates of gross primary productivity (GPP; e.g., MODIS 17), yet efforts to develop spatial respiration products are lacking. Here we...
North American forests and forest management institutions are experiencing a wide range of significant ecological disturbances and socioeconomic changes, which point to the need for enhanced resilience. A critical capacity for resilience in institutions is strategic foresight. This article reports on a project of the North American Forest Commissio...
Forests play an important role in global carbon cycles. However, the lack of available information on carbon stocks in dead organic matter, including woody debris and litter, reduces the reliability of assessing the carbon cycles in entire forest ecosystems. Here we estimate that the national DOM carbon stock in the period of 2004–2008 is 925 ± 54...
Currently, US forests constitute a large carbon sink, comprising about 9 % of the global terrestrial carbon sink. Wildfire is the most significant disturbance influencing carbon dynamics in US forests. Our objective is to estimate impacts of climate change, CO2 concentration, and nitrogen deposition on the future net biome productivity (NBP) of US...
Tropical wetland ecosystems, especially mangroves and peatlands, are carbon (C) rich ecosystems. Globally, tropical mangroves store about 20 PgC, however, deforestation has contributed 10 % of the total global emissions from tropical deforestation, even though mangroves account for only about 0.7 % of the world?s tropical forest area (Donato et al....
Executive summary of the technical report:
"Integrated Modeling and Assessment of North American Forest Carbon Dynamics" prepared for the Commission for Environmental Cooperation under the collaboration project "Integrated Modeling and Assessment of North American Forest Carbon Dynamics and Climate Change Mitigation Options"; carried out by the fo...
The forests of North America play an important role in the global greenhouse gas balance by
removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, storing it in forest ecosystems and in products
manufactured from harvested wood, and providing society with wood for construction, energy and
other uses. The objective of this project was to improve and harmonize...
Forested lands, representing the largest terrestrial carbon sink in the United States, offset 16% of total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions through carbon sequestration. Meanwhile, this carbon sink is threatened by deforestation, climate change and natural disturbances. As a result, U.S. Forest Service policies require that National Forests assess bas...
Key messageKnowing the uncertainty for biomass equations is critical for their use and error propagation of biomass estimates. Presented here is a method to estimate uncertainty for equations where only n and R2 values from the original equations are available.ContextTree allometric equations form the basis of research and assessments of forest bio...
Large trees are important and unique organisms in forests, providing
ecosystem services including carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere and
long-term storage. Some reports have raised concerns about the global decline of
large trees. Based on observations from two regions in Finland and three regions
in the United States we report that trends...
Stand age and disturbance data have become more available in recent years and can facilitate modeling studies that integrate and quantify effects of disturbance and non-disturbance factors on carbon dynamics. Since high-quality disturbance and forest age data to support forest dynamic modeling are lacking before 1950, we assumed dynamic equilibrium...
Large trees are important and unique organisms in forests, providing ecosystem services including carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere and long-term storage. There is concern about reports of global decline of big trees. Based on observations from Finland and the United States we report that trends of big trees during recent decades have been...
In the United States, net carbon (C) has increased in forests and harvested wood product stocks since the 1950s. Annual C storage currently accounts for 13 % of U.S. fossil fuel C emissions, and increased C storage is attributed to reforestation, regrowth of harvested forests, and use of forest products. In a warmer climate, U.S. forests could beco...
Trees outside forests (TOF) play important roles in national economies,
ecosystem services, and international efforts for mitigating climate warming.
Detailed assessment of the dynamics of carbon (C) stocks in China's TOF is
necessary for fully evaluating the role of the country's trees in the
national C cycle. This study is the first to explore th...
Assessing carbon dynamics in forests using a process model
Storing carbon (C) and offsetting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with the use of wood for energy, both of which slow emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere, present significant challenges for forest management (IPCC 2001). In the United States, there has been a net increase in C in forests and in harvested wood products stocks (Tables 7.1 and 7.2), a...
The carbon balance of secondary dry tropical forests of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula is sensitive to human and natural disturbances and climate change. The spatially explicit process model Forest-DNDC was used to estimate forest carbon dynamics in this region, including the effects of disturbance on carbon stocks. Model evaluation using observations...
Trees outside forests (TOF) play important roles in national economies, ecosystem services, and international efforts for mitigating climate warming. Detailed assessment of the dynamics of carbon (C) stocks in China's TOF is necessary for a full picture evaluating the role of the country's trees in the national C cycle. In this study, we first expl...
Forests are the dominant terrestrial ecosystem on Earth. We review the
environmental factors controlling their structure and global distribution
and evaluate their current and future trajectory. Adaptations of trees to climate
and resource gradients, coupled with disturbances and forest dynamics,
create complex geographical patterns in forest assem...
Abstract
This report describes the database used to compile, store, and manage intensive ground-based biometric data collected at research sites in Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Wyoming, supporting research activities of the U.S. North American Carbon Program (NACP). This report also provides details of each si...
Recent climate variability (increasing temperature, droughts) and atmospheric composition changes (nitrogen deposition, rising CO2 concentration) along with harvesting, wildfires, and insect infestations have had significant effects on U.S. forest carbon (C) uptake. In this study, we attribute C changes in the conterminous U.S. forests to disturban...
We develop an approach for estimating net ecosystem exchange (NEE) using inventory-based information over North America (NA) for a recent 7-year period (ca. 2000 2006). The approach notably retains information on the spatial distribution of NEE, or the vertical exchange between land and atmosphere of all non-fossil fuel sources and sinks of CO, whi...
Data assimilation methods are now widely used to constrain terrestrial
biosphere models using carbon pool and flux observations spanning a wide
range of spatial and temporal scales. A fundamental problem in such
model-data syntheses is imperfect knowledge of the soil properties and
meteorological history at the observational sites. Thus, deviations...
Using forests to mitigate climate change has gained much interest in science and policy discussions. We examine the evidence for carbon benefits, environmental and monetary costs, risks and trade-offs for a variety of activities in three general strategies: (1) land use change to increase forest area (afforestation) and avoid deforestation; (2) car...
The terrestrial carbon sink has been large in recent decades, but its size and location remain uncertain. Using forest inventory
data and long-term ecosystem carbon studies, we estimate a total forest sink of 2.4 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg
C year–1) globally for 1990 to 2007. We also estimate a source of 1.3 ± 0.7 Pg C year–1 from tropi...
Total forest carbon (C) storage is determined by succession, disturbances, climate, and the edaphic properties of a site or region. Forest harvesting substantially affects C dynamics; these effects may be amplified if forest harvesting is intensified to provide biofuel feedstock. We tested the effects of harvest intensity on landscape C using a sim...
Most forests of the world are recovering from a past disturbance. It is well known that forest disturbances profoundly affect carbon stocks and fluxes in forest ecosystems , yet it has been a great challenge to assess disturbance impacts in estimates of forest carbon budgets. Net sequestra-tion or loss of CO 2 by forests after disturbance follows a...
Assessing forest carbon storage and cycling over large areas is a growing challenge that is complicated by the inherent heterogeneity of forest systems. Field measurements must be conducted and analyzed appropriately to generate precise estimates at scales large enough for mapping or comparison with remote sensing data. In this study we examined sp...
Most forests of the world are recovering from a past disturbance. It is well known that forest disturbances profoundly affect carbon stocks and fluxes in forest ecosystems, yet it has been a great challenge to assess disturbance impacts in estimates of forest carbon budgets. Net sequestration or loss of CO2 by forests after disturbance follows a pr...
Forests play an important role in the U.S. and global carbon cycle, and carbon sequestered by U.S. forest growth and harvested wood products currently offsets 12-19% of U.S. fossil fuel emissions. The cycle of forest growth, death, and regeneration and the use of wood removed from the forest complicate efforts to understand and measure forest carbo...
Reliably estimating carbon storage and cycling in detrital biomass is an obstacle to carbon accounting. We examined carbon pools and fluxes in three small temperate forest landscapes to assess the magnitude of carbon stored in detrital biomass and determine whether detrital carbon storage is related to stand structural properties (leaf area, aboveg...
Forest carbon stocks and fluxes vary with forest age, and relationships with forest age are often used to estimate fluxes for regional or national carbon inventories. Two methods are commonly used to estimate forest age: observed tree age or time since a known disturbance. To clarify the relationships between tree age, time since disturbance and fo...
Previous chapters examined individual processes relevant to forest carbon cycling, and characterized measurement approaches
for understanding those processes at landscape scales. In this final chapter, we address our overall approach to understanding
forest carbon dynamics over large areas. Our objective is to identify any lessons that we learned i...
Unless action is taken, the developing world will face recurrent problems of food security and conflict. This volume provides a summary and perspective of the field of land resources and suggests improvements needed to conserve resources for future generations. Coverage provides an authoritative review of the resources of soils, water, climate, for...
U.S. North American Carbon Program Investigators Meeting, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 22-25 January 2007. The U.S. North American Carbon Program (NACP) sponsored an "all-scientist" meeting to review progress in understanding the dynamics of the carbon cycle of North America and adjacent oceans, and to chart a course for improved integration across...
As a component of efforts designed to develop landscape-level carbon budgets, we measured CH4 fluxes from soil in forests and wetlands of the Chequamegon National Forest (CNF; northern Wisconsin) and the Marcell Experimental Forest (MEF; northern Minnesota). At MEF, we sampled at locations in a 3 km x 3 km grid that encompassed the natural heteroge...
The United States Climate Change Initiative includes improvements to the U.S. Department of Energy's Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. The program includes specific accounting rules and guidelines for reporting and registering forestry activities that reduce atmospheric CO2 by increasing carbon sequestration or reducing emissions. In the...
Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations are rapidly increasing, having risen by about 100 ppm over the last century. Atmospheric CO2 is the basic photosynthetic building block of plants and is respired to generate the plant's energy. Atmospheric CO2 in enhanced conditions is like an “all-you-can-eat buffet” for trees. But are there hidden t...
The interactions of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) with physical (i.e., precipitation, light, and temperature) and chemical (i.e., ozone (O3), nitrogen and sulfur deposition, and nutrients) environmental factors that affect plant growth have been demonstrated in experiments that simulate managed and natural forest ecosystems in the easte...
Estimates of national-scale forest carbon (C) stocks and fluxes are typically based on allometric regression equations developed using dimensional analysis techniques. However, the literature is inconsistent and incomplete with respect to large-scale forest C estimation. We compiled all available diameter-based allometric regression equations for e...
The interactions of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) with physical (i.e., precipitation, light, and temperature) and chemical (i.e., ozone (03), nitrogen and sulfur deposition, and nutrients) environmental factors that affect plant growth have been demonstrated in experiments that simulate managed and natural forest ecosystems in the easte...
Previous work (Lal et al., 1998; Follett et al., 2001) described the potential of U.S. cropland and grazing land soils to sequester carbon (C) and be managed to help mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions. Activities to sequester C in croplands included land conversion, land restoration, improved cropping systems, and intensified management using conser...
Forestlands are unlike croplands and grazing lands, in that a large amount of carbon can be sequestered for long periods of time above ground by trees and below ground in coarse roots. Carbon in trees can also be harvested, and some of the harvested carbon can be stored for long periods of time as wood products or as waste wood or paper in landfill...
The data presented in this book have amply demonstrated that carbon (C) sequestration in forest soils plays an important role in the local, regional, national, and global C cycling. While soil C sequestration is also important in cropland (Lal et al., 1998) and grazing lands (Follett et al., 2001), the significance of soil C sequestration in forest...
There is general agreement that terrestrial systems in the Northern Hemisphere provide a significant sink for atmospheric CO2; however, estimates of the magnitude and distribution of this sink vary greatly. National forest inventories provide strong, measuretment-based constraints on the magnitude of net forest carbon uptake. We brought together fo...
We used a new 17-year, high spatial resolution satellite record and a carbon cycle model to explore how changing net primary productivity (NPP) contributed to a proposed carbon (C) sink in North America. We found a small but significant increase in NPP, 0.03 Pg C yr-2 or 8% over 17 years, that could explain a substantial fraction of the C sink. The...
The largest carbon (C) pool in United States forests is the soil C pool. We present methodology and soil C pool estimates used in the FORCARB model, which estimates and projects forest carbon budgets for the United States. The methodology balances knowledge, uncertainties, and ease of use. The estimates are calculated using the USDA Natural Resourc...