Articles containing the keyword 'carbon balance'

A process-oriented tree and stand growth model is extended to be applicable to the analysis of timber quality, and how it is influenced by silvicultural treatments. The tree-level model is based on the carbon balance and it incorporates the dynamics of five biomass variables as well as tree height, crown base, and breast height diameter. Allocation of carbon is based on the conservation of structural relationships, in particular, the pipe model. The pipe-model relationships are extended to the whorl level, but in order to avoid a 3-dimensional model of entire crown structure, the branch module is largely stochastic and aggregated. In model construction, a top-down hierarchy is used where at each step down, the upper level sets constraints for the lower level. Some advantages of this approach are model consistency and efficiency of calculations, but probably at the cost of reduced flexibility. The detailed structure related with the branching module is preliminary and will be improved when more data becomes available. Model parameters are identified for Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in Southern Finland, and example simulations are carried out to compare the development of quality characteristics in different stocking densities.

• Mäkelä, E-mail: am@mm.unknown
• Ikonen, E-mail: vi@mm.unknown
• Vanninen, E-mail: pv@mm.unknown

A metabolic model of height growth and site index is derived from a parametrization of the annual carbon balance of a tree. The parametrization is based on pipe-model theory. Four principal variants of the height-growth model correspond to four combinations of assumptions regarding carbon allocation: (a) the apical shoot is autonomous or (b) it is not; and (A) the specific rate of elongation of a shoot equals that of a woody root or (B) it does not. The bB model is the most general as it includes the aA, bA, and aB models as special cases. If the physiological parameters are constant, then the aA model reduces to the form of the Mitscherlich model and the bA model to the form of a Bertalanffy model. Responses of height growth to year-to-year variation in atmospheric conditions are rendered through adjustments of a subset of the model's parameters, namely, the specific rate of production of carbon substrate and three specific rates of maintenance respiration. As an example, the effect of the increasing atmospheric concentration of CO₂ on the time-course of tree height of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) is projected over 50-year span from 1986. Site index is predicted to increase and, more importantly, the shape of the site-index curve is predicted to change.

• Valentine, E-mail: hv@mm.unknown

The eddy covariance technique is a novel micrometeorological method that enables the determination of the atmosphere-biosphere exchange rate of gases such as ozone and carbon dioxide on an ecosystem scale. This paper describes the technique and presents results from the first direct measurements of turbulent fluxes of O₃, CO₂ and H₂O above a forest in Finland. The measurements were performed during 15 July-5 August 1994 above a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stand near the Mekrijärvi research station in Eastern Finland.

The expected diurnal cycles were observed in the atmospheric fluxes of O₃, CO₂ and H₂O. The data analysis includes interpretation of the O₃ flux in terms of the dry deposition velocity and evaluation the dependency of the net CO₂ flux on radiation. The eddy covariance method and the established measurement system has proved suitable for providing high-resolution data for studying ozone deposition to a forest as well as the net carbon balance and related physiological processes of an ecosystem.

• Aurela, E-mail: ma@mm.unknown
• Laurila, E-mail: tl@mm.unknown
• Tuovinen, E-mail: jt@mm.unknown

The amount of carbon (C) stored in wood products manufactured in Finland was calculated with the help of a model using wood harvesting statistics, product flows and lifespans in order to study how much C could be set aside from the atmospheric C cycle outside the forest ecosystem. The calculations showed that on the average 9.9 Tg C/a was in harvested timber in 1986–1991 in Finland. C emissions of timber harvest and transport were 0.1 Tg C/a. In production processes about one third of the C bound in in timber was released into the atmosphere, but two thirds was still bound in products. After 50 and 100 years, more than 40% and 33% of the C initially in products was either in products still in use or disposed to landfills. The wood product C storage was most sensitive to landfill decay rate and to the burning of abandoned products for energy, but not to the same extent to the length of the lifespan of products.

• Karjalainen, E-mail: tk@mm.unknown
• Kellomäki, E-mail: sk@mm.unknown
• Pussinen, E-mail: ap@mm.unknown

Highly mechanized timber harvesting and timber logistics emit CO₂. In turn, the provided timber stores CO₂ from the atmosphere as biogenic carbon. This basic assumption resulted in the calculation of net carbon storage of supplied timber. For this, we first developed a formula that represents the carbon content of freshly harvested timber. Coniferous wood contains about 734 kg CO₂ m^-3 and deciduous wood about 1000 CO₂ m^-3. Contrary to this, CO₂ emissions from trucks, harvesters, and forwarders were calculated using the variable parameters for actual diesel consumption and the distance to the sawmill and constant parameters for the transport of the machine to the stand, lubricants, transport of operators, loading, and fabrication, supply, and maintenance. The method was tested on an actual harvest. The principal findings are that the method is practical, the net carbon storage of the supplied timber is reduced by 1.5% to 5% by harvesting and transport activities, and timber logistics is the largest contributor to emissions. The CO₂ emissions for harvesters and forwarders are about 4 kg CO₂ m^-3, and for downstream timber logistics across all assortments and distances is 11 kg CO₂ m^-3. We conclude that the emissions are low, vis-a-vis the storage capacity. Emissions and a standardized calculation model are imperative. The model developed here for mapping the net carbon storage of roundwood highlights the climate protection performance of timber and contributes to optimizing climate-friendly timber supply chains.

• Kaulen, KWF - Kuratorium für Waldarbeit und Forsttechnik e.V., Spremberger Straße 1, 64823 Groß-Umstadt, Germany; University of Freiburg, Chair of Forest Operations, Werthmannstr. 6, 79085 Freiburg, Germany https://orcid.org/0009-0006-2633-8132 E-mail: alexander.kaulen@kwf-online.de
• Engler, University of Freiburg, Chair of Forest Operations, Werthmannstr. 6, 79085 Freiburg, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2104-8209 E-mail: benjamin.engler@foresteng.uni-freiburg.de
• Purfürst, University of Freiburg, Chair of Forest Operations, Werthmannstr. 6, 79085 Freiburg, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9661-0193 E-mail: thomas.purfuerst@foresteng.uni-freiburg.de

• Strîmbu, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, NO-1432 Ås, Norway https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0588-2036 E-mail: victor.strimbu@nmbu.no
• Eid, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, NO-1432 Ås, Norway E-mail: tron.eid@nmbu.no
• Gobakken, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, NO-1432 Ås, Norway https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5534-049X E-mail: terje.gobakken@nmbu.no

• Gan, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, Texas, USA E-mail: j-gan@tamu.edu
• Smith, Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada E-mail: cts@nn.ca

• Rohner, Renewable Resource Modeling, D-63477 Maintal, Germany E-mail: rohner@rrmodeling.de
• Böswald, Factor Consulting + Management AG, CH-8045 Zurich, Switzerland E-mail: kb@nn.ch