How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
(OP)
"One major difficulty in answering how much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing is that forests both take up CO2 (through photosynthesis) during the sunlight well as release it (through respiration) at night; it is the balance which decides whether a forest is a net source or store of carbon. Scientists have had to come up with some very ingenious tricks to measure exactly how much CO2 a forest is breathing in and out."
What will happens to carbon and methane release of died plants?
Luis





RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
The science of climates and climate change are both growth areas today, but as recently as 50 years ago they were backwater fields that had zero glamour. It truly is an infant field and I think that assuming facts not in evidence is the kind of wishful thinking that we should leave to the media.
David
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
BUT
If you burn wood, or build your house out of wood, then that will affect the carbon cycle, because the alternatives (coal, oil, concrete,steel) are energy intensive and the energy is often created by burning previously sequestered carbon. Cement is made by burning limestone, that is also returning sequestered carbon to the carbon cycle.
So, if you have lots of trees, people will tend to use them in preference to the sequestered carbon sources.
That is not to say that I agree that more carbon in the carbon cycle is a bad thing, but that is not what the OP asked.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
To elaborate, since wood is composed primarily of cellulose, which is a hydrocarbon, the dry mass of a chunk of wood is largely carbon. C6H10O5 makes about 45% by my calculation. I think the difficulty for scientists is in "determining exactly the amount of carbon..." the net amount isn't so difficult to determine.
Of course if you burn or otherwise release that carbon back into the atmosphere, you'll lose a significant part of the sequested carbon. You'll never go negative, of course. Thats why biofuel is often referred to as "zero net emissions".
Well, Greg must type faster than me! Cheers
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
My boss was always working on bringing in more research bucks, and as such had several canned eyebrow lifters for our dog and pony shows. Our nitch was coming up with new uses for wood fiber, i.e. trees and brush that couldn't be used for lumber. He liked to point out that these small trees sequestered carbon at a faster rate than the older, more valuable timber trees and as such were an obvious choice for carbon sequestration, a side affect many people don't think of when it comes to forest products. One of the first times I heard him point this out, I asked him later "Well, doesn't it all end up back in the cycle anyhow, what with decomposition and incineration and all?" He gave me quite a look, and then quietly said, "Thats why all my paper goes in the trash."
I still try to recycle my paper (must be the hippie in me) but I can't get too uptight about it because that always pops into my mind when some paper products find there way in the bin.
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
animals (like humans) intake O2 and expell CO2 (amoung other things)
something better be making up for this (otherwise we'd've run out of O2 awile ago).
i've always understood that vegetation (like trees) intake CO2 and expell O2 ...
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
if vegetation is not a nett depoistor of O2 then what is, since we animals are a nett consumer ?
if vegetation is a nett depoistor of O2, doesn't this mean that they are also a nett consumer of CO2 ? otherwise what is, since both animals and vegetables would be nett depoistors ?
so vegetation can consume O2 at night, but they produce more during the day, and the opposite for CO2.
wasn't President Regan (sp?) who said (wrongly) that pollution was caused by trees ?
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
Then it’s sequestered if not quite permanently then for quite a while.
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
The caveat to all this is that with increasing CO2 the equlibrium rate for forests is of greater mass, so even a mature forest will be taking in CO2. Since increased CO2 reduces water demand, that's even more true.
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
Can you expand on that?
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?
The root idea of general forest size seems sound, however, it doesn't seem to account for potential carbon stores such as bogs or similar.
Something to consider in the carbon cycle conversation: the ocean has been the primary absorber of industrial CO2 (and possibly also exceed CO2 uptake land/forests throughout history). Us landlubbers (that me) tend to forget the ocean covers most of the planet.
Two methods of aquatic absorbtion:
1)dissolved CO2 in the water
2)CO2 uptake by microorganisms
#1 is responsible for the majority of the idustrial CO2 uptake, but we may be approaching saturation in the upper layers of the ocean, at which point uptake will slow drastically. This is/was our buffer.
#2 is likely the source of most oil reserves, as the organisms die they drift down the the bottom and form layers of carbon rich sediment. This process is not likely quick enough to remove industrial emissions. Can/should this process be stimulated?
RE: How much CO2 a forest is gaining or losing?