Coupling a Forest Growth Model with a Soil Carbon Simulator

Abstract

the description of the competition between the different tree species within a forest and the success of trees for natural regeneration [7][8][9][10].Biogeochemical models such as Biome-BGC are large scale models that model primary productivity [11]. The simulation results mostly apply for large regions and are skillfully broken down for smaller regions. Although the models are generally not conceived for the description of silvicultural treatments, there are efforts underway to introduce options of forest management [12].We chose a productivity model, because we wanted to properly depict management options that are expressed in terms of generally understandable silvicultural interventions. In productivity models the emphasis is typically on the effect of silvicultural interventions, but not necessarily on the provision of ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration.The sequestration of carbon in forest soils is often not integrated in the productivity models. Instead, the carbon dynamics are calculated separately. A notable exception is a Swiss study were the impact of storm damage on the soil carbon pool had been evaluated [13]. The effect of tree species on the forest soil carbon pool has been shown [14][15][16][17]. Therefore, we are convinced that a full assessment of forest management options needs to comprise both the carbon pools in the total biomass and the soil.

Strategies for Climate-Smart Forest Management in Austria

“…The growth simulator yielded for each tree the characteristics "tree species", "stem height", "stem diameter", "stem volume" and the annotation whether the tree remained in the stand, was extracted, or had died off. The procedure of creating the input file for Yasso07 is described in detail [38,39].…”

Case Study Carinthia / Slovenia – Productive Forests Affected by Climate Change

“…Taking the output of the model into a soil carbon simulation model as described in [15] shows again a strong climate effect. The dotted lines representing the B1 scenario with less warming is in several cases the scenario that enables the soils to build up a larger carbon stock.…”

“…By means of a forest productivity model the future development of forests in the Carinthian part of the case study area was assessed. The used models Caldis and Yasso07 are described in [15]. The modeling exercise included the growth assessment of different tree species under the two climate scenarios A1B and B1 as provided by the IPCC [6].…”

Future management options for cembran pine forests close to the alpine timberline

“…The output of CÂLDIS is the "diameter at breast height" (dbh) [cm] and the "height" (h) [m] of individual trees. From these data, the volume and mass of stems were estimated (Ledermann and Neumann 2006;Dolschak et al 2013). The mass of needles and leaves, branches, and roots was calculated with biomass expansion functions (Eckmüllner 2006;Wirth et al 2004;Ledermann and Neumann 2006;Helmisaari et al 2002;Offenthaler and Hochbichler 2006).…”

“…The output is the total soil organic carbon pool. From the standing stock of individual compartments of the tree biomass, the carbon fluxes into the soil were estimated (Dolschak et al 2013). Although soil erosion on steep slopes is a common phenomenon, it is not reflected in the soil carbon simulation (Lal and Pimentel 2008).…”