Carbon Tradeoffs of Restoration and Provision of Endangered Species Habitat in a Fire-Maintained Forest

Martin, Katherine L.; Hurteau, Matthew D.; Hungate, Bruce A.; Koch, George; North, Malcolm P.

doi:10.1007/s10021-014-9813-1

Cited by 34 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…As an example, thinning and prescribed burning to improve habitat for Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis) in longleaf pine forests may reduce ecosystem C; therefore, co-benefits from a variety of ecosystem services should be evaluated (Martin et al 2015). As an example, thinning and prescribed burning to improve habitat for Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis) in longleaf pine forests may reduce ecosystem C; therefore, co-benefits from a variety of ecosystem services should be evaluated (Martin et al 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although longleaf pine forests are low-density forests, managed longleaf pine forests can sequester comparable C over longer rotations relative to other plantation species in the southeastern United States. Longleaf pine ecosystems may be well suited for applied long-term forest C management because of greater tree longevity and longer rotations relative to other southern pines, and when biodiversity (Martin et al 2015) and resilience to wildfire (and other disturbances) are important forest management goals (Schwenk et al 2012). elliottii plantations on a 25-yr rotation, a length typical for industrial plantations in the southeastern United States.…”

Section: Ecosystem Carbon Density and Allocation Across A Chronosequementioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecosystem carbon density and allocation across a chronosequence of longleaf pine forests

Samuelson

Stokes

Butnor

et al. 2017

Ecological Applications

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Forests can partially offset greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to climate change mitigation, mainly through increases in live biomass. We quantified carbon (C) density in 20 managed longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) forests ranging in age from 5 to 118 years located across the southeastern United States and estimated above- and belowground C trajectories. Ecosystem C stock (all pools including soil C) and aboveground live tree C increased nonlinearly with stand age and the modeled asymptotic maxima were 168 Mg C/ha and 80 Mg C/ha, respectively. Accumulation of ecosystem C with stand age was driven mainly by increases in aboveground live tree C, which ranged from <1 Mg C/ha to 74 Mg C/ha and comprised <1% to 39% of ecosystem C. Live root C (sum of below-stump C, ground penetrating radar measurement of lateral root C, and live fine root C) increased with stand age and represented 4-22% of ecosystem C. Soil C was related to site index, but not to stand age, and made up 39-92% of ecosystem C. Live understory C, forest floor C, downed dead wood C, and standing dead wood C were small fractions of ecosystem C in these frequently burned stands. Stand age and site index accounted for 76% of the variation in ecosystem C among stands. The mean root-to-shoot ratio calculated as the average across all stands (excluding the grass-stage stand) was 0.54 (standard deviation of 0.19) and higher than reports for other conifers. Long-term accumulation of live tree C, combined with the larger role of belowground accumulation of lateral root C than in other forest types, indicates a role of longleaf pine forests in providing disturbance-resistant C storage that can balance the more rapid C accumulation and C removal associated with more intensively managed forests. Although other managed southern pine systems sequester more C over the short-term, we suggest that longleaf pine forests can play a meaningful role in regional forest C management.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ecosystem Carbon Density and Allocation Across A Chronosequementioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem carbon density and allocation across a chronosequence of longleaf pine forests

Samuelson

Stokes

Butnor

et al. 2017

Ecological Applications

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“…, Martin et al. ). Soil C values were compared against field data and values from the literature (Grady and Hart , Dore et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoring forest structure and process stabilizes forest carbon in wildfire‐prone southwestern ponderosa pine forests

Hurteau

Liang

Martin

et al. 2016

Ecological Applications

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Changing climate and a legacy of fire-exclusion have increased the probability of high-severity wildfire, leading to an increased risk of forest carbon loss in ponderosa pine forests in the southwestern USA. Efforts to reduce high-severity fire risk through forest thinning and prescribed burning require both the removal and emission of carbon from these forests, and any potential carbon benefits from treatment may depend on the occurrence of wildfire. We sought to determine how forest treatments alter the effects of stochastic wildfire events on the forest carbon balance. We modeled three treatments (control, thin-only, and thin and burn) with and without the occurrence of wildfire. We evaluated how two different probabilities of wildfire occurrence, 1% and 2% per year, might alter the carbon balance of treatments. In the absence of wildfire, we found that thinning and burning treatments initially reduced total ecosystem carbon (TEC) and increased net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB). In the presence of wildfire, the thin and burn treatment TEC surpassed that of the control in year 40 at 2%/yr wildfire probability, and in year 51 at 1%/yr wildfire probability. NECB in the presence of wildfire showed a similar response to the no-wildfire scenarios: both thin-only and thin and burn treatments increased the C sink. Treatments increased TEC by reducing both mean wildfire severity and its variability. While the carbon balance of treatments may differ in more productive forest types, the carbon balance benefits from restoring forest structure and fire in southwestern ponderosa pine forests are clear.

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“…The maximum cohort age in the initial communties layer at Camp Navajo was 120 years, resulting in a 120 year spin-up period for the model and for this study I used the climate data specific to each climate scenario for spin-up. Soil organic matter decay rates were calibrated following Loudermilk et al [29] and Martin et al [30] such that after model spin-up, soil C values fell within the field-sampled range. Species-specific parameter values for the Century succession extension were obtained from the CENTURY user guide, published literature, and US Government databases [9, 27, 31–35] and the distribution of grid cell C values across the landscape compared well with the distribution of empirical values derived from inventory data (see [8]).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the Carbon Balance of Forest Restoration and Wildfire under Projected Climate in the Fire-Prone Southwestern US

Hurteau

2017

PLoS ONE

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Climate projections for the southwestern US suggest a warmer, drier future and have the potential to impact forest carbon (C) sequestration and post-fire C recovery. Restoring forest structure and surface fire regimes initially decreases total ecosystem carbon (TEC), but can stabilize the remaining C by moderating wildfire behavior. Previous research has demonstrated that fire maintained forests can store more C over time than fire suppressed forests in the presence of wildfire. However, because the climate future is uncertain, I sought to determine the efficacy of forest management to moderate fire behavior and its effect on forest C dynamics under current and projected climate. I used the LANDIS-II model to simulate carbon dynamics under early (2010–2019), mid (2050–2059), and late (2090–2099) century climate projections for a ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) dominated landscape in northern Arizona. I ran 100-year simulations with two different treatments (control, thin and burn) and a 1 in 50 chance of wildfire occurring. I found that control TEC had a consistent decline throughout the simulation period, regardless of climate. Thin and burn TEC increased following treatment implementation and showed more differentiation than the control in response to climate, with late-century climate having the lowest TEC. Treatment efficacy, as measured by mean fire severity, was not impacted by climate. Fire effects were evident in the cumulative net ecosystem exchange (NEE) for the different treatments. Over the simulation period, 32.8–48.9% of the control landscape was either C neutral or a C source to the atmosphere and greater than 90% of the thin and burn landscape was a moderate C sink. These results suggest that in southwestern ponderosa pine, restoring forest structure and surface fire regimes provides a reasonable hedge against the uncertainty of future climate change for maintaining the forest C sink.

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Carbon Tradeoffs of Restoration and Provision of Endangered Species Habitat in a Fire-Maintained Forest

Cited by 34 publications

References 54 publications

Ecosystem carbon density and allocation across a chronosequence of longleaf pine forests

Ecosystem carbon density and allocation across a chronosequence of longleaf pine forests

Restoring forest structure and process stabilizes forest carbon in wildfire‐prone southwestern ponderosa pine forests

Quantifying the Carbon Balance of Forest Restoration and Wildfire under Projected Climate in the Fire-Prone Southwestern US

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