Forest carbon balances at the landscape scale investigated with the Q model and the CoupModel – Responses to intensified harvests

Potential Roles of Swedish Forestry in the Context of Climate Change Mitigation

“…Despite this, we decided to use a similar soil carbon dynamics for all scenarios, since present knowledge on soil carbon dynamics in relation to different management scenarios is limited. It is possible that this has resulted in an overestimation of the carbon balance for the baseline increased harvest scenario, since increased biomass harvest has been shown to decrease soil carbon stores in Swedish forest soils if a complete removal of needles, branches and tops were applied [66,67]. In this study, however, the removal levels were considerably lower and the differences between scenarios were modest.…”

“…Long-term tracking of carbon stock in Swedish forest soils indicates a steady increase over time, and a positive relationship between forest growth and carbon accumulation in the soil is normally found [45]. Soil carbon accumulation can also be negatively affected if additional biomass is harvested [66,67], as in the scenarios in this study where additional residues and stumps are assumed to be harvested. Despite this, we decided to use a similar soil carbon dynamics for all scenarios, since present knowledge on soil carbon dynamics in relation to different management scenarios is limited.…”

“…In this study, however, the removal levels were considerably lower and the differences between scenarios were modest. It is also possible that the carbon balance is underestimated for the increased growth scenario, since there normally is a positive relationship between forest growth and soil carbon accumulation [42,67].…”

Climate effects of bioenergy from forest residues in comparison to fossil energy

“…Currently 20% of all harvestable residues in Sweden are used for bioenergy [4,5], though there is a large potential for increasing the extraction of forest residues. The Swedish Forest Agency [6] estimates the potential harvest of branches and tops in Sweden to be in the range of [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] TWh year À1 . Potential stump harvest in Sweden is estimated in the range of 21-34 TWh year À1 .…”

Climate Change Mitigation Potential in Boreal Forests: Impacts of Management, Harvest Intensity and Use of Forest Biomass to Substitute Fossil Resources

“…However, increased harvests from thinnings and final fellings may increase the potential of wood-based products and energy biomass to substitute fossil-intensive materials (e.g., concrete, steel and plastic) and fuels [3,12,21] and economic benefits as well [22]. The capability of the management measures to enhance carbon sequestration and amount of harvestable biomass within a certain time period will also depend on the initial forest structure [23][24][25][26][27]. Interactive effects of forest management and development of forest structure on biomass production have been studied earlier by applying model simulations together with information on initial conditions of forest resources [28][29][30][31].…”