Last modified 11/09/2005
Chojnacky, David C.; Mickler, Robert A.; Heath, Linda S. 2003.
Carbon in down woody materials of eastern U.S. forests. In: Proceedings of second annual conference on carbon sequestration: Developing & validating the technology base to reduce carbon intensity [CD-ROM].
Washington. DC. U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory. Additional information at http://www.carbonsq.com/history.cfm
To better manage global carbon storage and other ecosystem processes, there is a need for accessible carbon data on components of down woody materials (DWM) in forests. We examined the feasibility of linking available data on DWM to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) database, which covers the nation’s forest lands. We developed regression models to predict coarse woody material (CWM), fine woody material (FWM), litter, duff, and shrub/herb cover for extension to FIA’s network of about 100,000 plots in the eastern U.S. Results showed (1) that on anverage, DWM constitutes about 25% of total aboveground forest carbon and (2) there are about 10,000 Tg (1012 gm) of aboveground carbon in eastern U.S. forests. Measurements of climate, mortality/harvest/disturbance, stand size/structure were the most promising predictors of down woody materials, but further study is needed to improve model precision. The 2,400 Tg of DWM in eastern U.S. forests is a significant consideration for managing the balance between sequestered and atmospheric carbon.
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