Empirical Estimates of Aboveground Carbon in Open Eucalyptus Forests of South-Eastern Australia and Its Potential Implication for National Carbon Accounting

Forests

Liubov Volkova²  Huiquan Bi¹  Simon Murphy²  Christopher J Weston²  Philip J. Polglase³ 

[1]NSW Forest Science, Department of Primary Industries, Level 12, 10 Valentine Ave, Parramatta NSW 2150, Australia

[2] E-Mail:

[3]School of Forest and Ecosystem Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Water Street, Creswick, Victoria 3363, Australia

[4] E-Mails:School of Forest and Ecosystem Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Water Street, Creswick, Victoria 3363, Australia

关键词: FullCAM;    Litter;    Coarse Woody Debris;    allometric equations;    understorey;    fire emission;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f6103395

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The aboveground carbon (AGC) storage of open Eucalyptus forests is unknown yet they are estimated to account for almost 25% of all Australian forests and about 60% of forests in Victoria. In this study we provide the best possible estimates of total AGC including tree biomass derived from destructive biomass sampling across 23 study plots established in open Eucalyptus forests in Victoria. The field estimates of AGC were then used for calibration of Australia’s National Carbon Accounting Model, FullCAM. The study aimed to develop a transparent and defendable method to estimate AGC for one of the most common Australian forests. Our calibrations showed that the 8.3 M ha of open Eucalyptus forests of SE Australia sequester at least 139 Mt C more than default FullCAM predictions. Because most of these forests are not subject to human-induced emission such as harvesting, only emissions and stock changes from a small area of these forests is reported in national inventories and international greenhouse emissions agreements. Concern for climate change and emission reduction will inevitably require land managers to come up with defendable methods of estimating forest carbon stocks and changes in all forest types; here we show how FullCAM can be further developed for this purpose.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.