Field Measurements for Forest Carbon Monitoring: A Landscape-Scale Approach PDF
Preview Field Measurements for Forest Carbon Monitoring: A Landscape-Scale Approach
Field Measurements for Forest Carbon Monitoring Coeli M. Hoover Editor Field Measurements for Forest Carbon Monitoring A Landscape-Scale Approach Editor Coeli M. Hoover US Forest Service Durham, NH USA ISBN: 978-1-4020-8505-5 e-ISBN: 978-1-4020-8506-2 DOI: 10.1007/ 978-1-4020-8506-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008931346 © 2008 Springer Science + Business Media B.V. All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Humana Press, c/o Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identifi ed as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Cover Images Main cover photo: Landscape-scale forest carbon monitoring site, Bartlett Experimental Forest, Bartlett, New Hampshire, USA. Photographer: Coeli Hoover First inset photo: Meteorological/flux tower instrument shed and base of tower, Bartlett Experimental Forest, Bartlett, NH, USA. Photographer: Coeli Hoover Second inset photo: Measuring the diameter of a downed log to quantify the amount of carbon stored in dead woody material at the Glacier Lakes Ecosystem Experiment Station in southern WY, USA. Photographer: John Bradford Third inset photo: Technician climbing the meteorological/flux tower to perform maintenance. Bartlett Experimental Forest, Bartlett, NH USA. Photographer: Coeli Hoover Fourth inset photo: Measuring soil respiration rates at the Niwot Ridge Ameriflux site near Nederland, CO, USA. Photographer: John Bradford Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com Preface In the summer of 2003, a workshop was held in Portsmouth, NH, to discuss land measurement techniques for the North American Carbon Program. Over 40 scien- tists representing government agencies, academia and nonprofit research organiza- tions located in Canada, the US and Mexico participated. During the course of the workshop a number of topics were discussed, with an emphasis on the following: • The need for an intermediate tier of carbon measurements. This level of study would be more extensive than state-level inventories of the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, but less detailed than intensive ecosys- tem studies sites such as those in Long Term Ecological Research network. This tier would ideally provide a basis to link and scale remote sensing measurements and inventory data, and supply data required to parameterize existing models (see Wofsy and Harriss 2002, Denning et al. 2005). • The design criteria that such a network of sites should meet. The network and sam- pling design should be standardized, but flexible enough to be applied across North America. The design also needs to be efficient enough to be implemented without the need for large field crews, yet robust enough to provide useful information. Finally, the spatial scale must permit easy linkage to remotely sensed data. • The key variables that should be measured at each site, and the frequency of measurement. Considerations include contribution of the process or property to quantifying and understanding carbon cycling at the site, usefulness as a model input, and practicality of implementation. During the workshop, the participants developed a list of candidate variables for measurement at landscape-scale carbon monitoring sites, with recommended meas- urement intervals. The list was compiled and participants were asked to rate each variable as high, medium, or low priority. Numerical scores were assigned to each importance category and the list was compiled. The entire variable list, in order from highest score to lowest, is given in Table 1. General comments on the variable and suggested measurement frequencies (as discussed during the workshop) are also included. Through further discussion the list was refined. Some variables were included with others, for instance, geographic coordinates are part of the site description section. Some, such as nitrous oxide flux, were not included due to a vv vi Preface Table 1 Variables in order of numerical ranking, highest to lowest. Rows enclosed by brackets had tied rankings Variable Comments Frequency Aboveground biomass Annually + mortality Coarse woody debris By size class Every 5 years Litterfall Monthly or biweekly Site history Land use; disturbance Once; annual update Foliar nitrogen Annual; seasonal Forest floor mass Varies with site age Temperature Continuous Stand age (site age) Mixed age stands? Update every 5 years Soil carbon dioxide (CO) flux Monthly; biweekly 2 Precipitation Continuous Coarse root biomass Live and dead Improve allometric equations Photon flux density Paired – below canopy, Continuous clearing Vegetation height LIDAR application Every 5 years Dead wood decomposition From known event? Annual Leaf area index (LAI) Coordinate with canopy height Annual or monthly; seasonal Soil moisture Hourly or daily Woody shrubs Mass/area of crown vs. height Every 5 years Soil carbon: nitrogen ratio Once Carbon 14 soil incubation Expensive Repeat every 5–10 years Soil carbon stocks To what depth? Every 10 years Net radiation Continuous Soil temperature Hourly; daily Branchfall Include in litterfall section? Varies by season Specific gravity by species Dead wood Once; subsampled Fine root biomass Not practical to measure turnover Vapor pressure Continuous Litter decomposition Once % Canopy cover Annual Wood utilization Where harvests occur Methane (CH) fluxes Appropriate in forested Weekly in wetlands 4 wetlands Dissolved organic carbon Important in some ecosystems Monthly or weekly Nitrous oxide (NO) flux If forest fertilization is used Daily 2 Suspended sediment How to relate to sample plots? Monthly Geographic coordinates Part of site description Labile carbon Root allometry Litter moisture decision to focus on carbon. Other measurements were omitted for reasons of high cost, low priority, or limited applicability. The end result was a slightly smaller list of variables thought to capture the properties and processes of carbon cycling aboveground and belowground that would also provide the data necessary to link to remotely sensed information as well as existing process models. Preface vii Once the list was refined, workshop participants indicated the areas in which they had expertise. One of the desired outcomes from the workshop was a field manual focused specifically on landscape-scale carbon inventory and monitoring. In view of this objective, the variables were grouped into subsets, and writing teams were self-selected from the list of individuals with expertise in each area. The writ- ing teams each had responsibility for a chapter of the manual; chapters covered one or more of the variables in Table 1. Each chapter team discussed available methods and recommended one; where alternate approaches may be necessary or appropri- ate those are included as well. In addition, for some variables, several levels of measurements may be described. In these cases there is a fundamental level for required implementation followed by one or more additional levels of measurement that may be applied if budgets allow or if site investigators require more detail. For the most comprehensive dataset, it is recommended that data on all of the vari- ables included in the manual be taken. It is worth noting that while the suite of variables was chosen with the needs of flux modeling in mind, a flux tower is not a necessary component of a landscape-scale carbon monitoring installation. This manual is intended to serve as a reference for scientists wishing to imple- ment landscape-scale carbon measurements. As such, the level of detail is interme- diate in nature; descriptions of procedures are not exhaustive, but include many references to supporting material. Each chapter generally includes background information, recommended methods, equipment needs, required calculations, and practical considerations; chapters vary in length and content since these decisions were left to the writing teams. Each chapter team has extensive field experience in their measurement area. A smaller team met in Durham, NH, to discuss plot layout and design for the proposed network. Design considerations included: compatibility with existing nationwide forest inventory protocols in North America, practicality of installation in a variety of landscape types, suitability for conducting a wide range of measure- ments, and integration with measurements taken at other tiers in the North American Carbon Plan hierarchy. Chapter One provides a complete description of the ration- ale behind the landscape scale measurement tier as well as the plot design that was chosen during the layout and design meeting. The opening part of the manual continues with Chapter Two, which outlines the information required for an adequate site description, and Chapter Three, Meteorological Measurements. From that point, the recommended landscape-scale carbon measurements are organized into the following parts: Aboveground Carbon Pools, Aboveground Carbon Fluxes, Belowground Carbon Pools and Fluxes, and Supplemental Variables for Carbon Cycle Modeling. Finally, a concluding part includes chapters on integrating field measurements with remote sensing data and flux measurements, and lessons learned from implementing the measurements at pilot sites with very different characteristics. While this manual provides specific guidance on the installation of landscape- scale forest carbon monitoring sites in the framework of the North American Carbon Plan, it can also be used as a reference for those interested in various aspects of forest carbon inventory and monitoring. We expect that instruments and viii Preface methods will continue to improve, but the fundamental techniques outlined in this volume should serve investigators well into the future. Coeli M. Hoover US Forest Service Northern Research Station Durham, NH 03824 Literature Cited Denning S, Oren R, McGuire D, et al. (2005) Science Implementation Strategy for the North American Carbon Program. Report of the NACP Implementation Strategy Group of the U.S. Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group. Washington, DC: U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program. http://www.carboncyclescience.gov/docs.php Wofsy SC, Harriss RC (2002) The North American Carbon Program (NACP). Report of the NACP Committee of the U.S. Interagency Carbon Cycle Science Program. Washington, DC: US Global Change Research Program. http://www.carboncyclescience.gov/docs.php Disclaimer The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the informa- tion and convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorse- ment or approval by the US Department of Agriculture or the Forest Service of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable. ix Acknowledgements This book is the result of a collaborative effort by many individuals. The initial workshop was organized by Research Project 4104 of the US Forest Service Northern Research Station and the University of New Hampshire, with support from the National Institute of Global Environmental Change and the US Forest Service Northern Global Change Program. Workshop co-conveners were Linda Heath and David Hollinger, US Forest Service, and John Aber, University of New Hampshire. Sue McGrane provided extensive logistical support during all phases of the workshop. Mike Nichols compiled all workshop presentations on CD for distri- bution to participants. The pilot studies of carbon monitoring methods described in this volume were funded by the US Forest Service Northern Global Change Program and NASA grant CARBON/04-0225-0191. The individual chapters benefited from thoughtful reviews from a number of individuals whose time is greatly appreciated: Pierre Bernier, Johnny Boggs, John Bradford, Ken Clark, Peter Curtis, Mats Fröberg, Mike Gavazzi, Christian Giardina, Paul Hanson, Linda Heath, Randy Kolka, Harry McCaughey, Linda Pardo, Chris Potter, Neal Scott, M. L. Smith, Sara Strickland, and Peter Weishampel. A special thanks to our authors who took the time to review colleagues’ chapters in addition to their own writing duties. Richard Birdsey facilitated pilot studies, organized follow-up meetings, reviewed the volume for content and consistency, and provided support to move the project along. Linda Heath provided valuable feedback and assistance many times during the process of compiling this volume. Susan Stout has been extremely patient regarding the time required by the project, and Sue McGrane deserves a great deal of thanks for the many tasks that she has carried out during the process of taking the idea of a landscape-scale forest carbon monitoring program from a workshop to a book. This book has not been subject to policy review by the US Forest Service or any other US Government sponsors and, therefore, does not represent the policies of any agency. xi
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