Cutting down on carbon emissions

The Dartmouth findings detailed how deep soil timber harvesting effects carbon emissions through clear-cutting and intensive forestry management practices.

Potentially, it could encourage a re-evaluation of the reliance on forest biomass. Whereas, the findings also suggested that carbon analyses are incomplete because deep soil methods are currently not included.

Biomass produced from wood sources currently account for around 75% of global biofuel production

This could have adverse consequences for the future of biomass production as deep soil stores account for more than 50% of the carbon in forest earth.

“Our paper suggests the carbon in the mineral soil may change more rapidly, and result in increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, as a result of disturbances such as logging,” stated Dartmouth Professor Andrew Friedland.

The paper also suggested that the increased reliance on wood may cause an unintended effect – an increased transfer of carbon from the mineral soil into the atmosphere.

Biomass produced from wood sources currently account for around 75% of global biofuel production but it is believed that mineral soil carbon responses vary highly, depending on harvest intensity and soil type.

“Understanding forest carbon cycles requires an in-depth analysis of the storage in and fluxes among different forest carbon pools, which include aboveground live and dead biomass, as well as the below-ground organic soil horizon, mineral soil horizon and roots,” Friedland added.

The research undertaken by Friedland and his team focussed on understanding the effects of atmospheric deposition of pollutants and biomass harvesting on elemental cycling processes in high-elevation forests in the North-eastern United States.