Understanding the Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Balance of Forests in Britain

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Understanding the Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Balance of Forests in Britain Research Report Understanding the carbon and greenhouse gas balance of forests in Britain Research Report Understanding the carbon and greenhouse gas balance of forests in Britain James Morison, Robert Matthews, Gemma Miller, Mike Perks, Tim Randle, Elena Vanguelova, Miriam White and Sirwan Yamulki Forestry Commission: Edinburgh © Crown Copyright 2012 You may re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or e-mail: [email protected]. First published in 2012 by Forestry Commission, Silvan House, 231 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh EH12 7AT. ISBN 978-0-85538-855-3 Morison, J., Matthews, R., Miller, G., Perks, M., Randle, T., Vanguelova, E., White, M. and Yamulki, S. (2012). Understanding the carbon and greenhouse gas balance of forests in Britain. Forestry Commission Research Report. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh. i–vi + 1–149 pp. Keywords: Forest carbon; carbon stocks; soil carbon; greenhouse gas balance; mitigation; fossil fuel substitution; forest management. FCRP018/FC-GB(STUDIO9)/0K/MAR12 Enquiries relating to this publication should be addressed to: Forestry Commission 231 Corstorphine Road Edinburgh Scotland, EH12 7AT T: 0131 334 0303 E: [email protected] The Forestry Commission will consider all requests to make the content of publications available in alternative formats. Please direct requests to the Forestry Commission Diversity Team at the above address, or by email at [email protected] or by phone on 0131 314 6575. The authors can be contacted through: James Morison Forest Research Centre for Forestry & Climate Change Alice Holt Lodge Farnham Surrey GU10 4LH T: 01420 526175 E: [email protected] Acknowledgements Substantial help and effort was provided by the following people: Professor Maurizio Mencuccini (University of Edinburgh) who contributed to material on example C balances, establishment, and forest operations, and Robin Duckworth (Duckworth Consultants Ltd) who ran the BSORT models for the many figures and tables in the 2008 draft. We record our sincere thanks to Professor Maurizio Mencuccini (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Ute Skiba (CEH, Edinburgh) for reviewing the 2008 draft and providing many useful comments. ii Contents Executive summary 1 1. Introduction and objectives 5 1.1. Background 5 1.2. Report origins, objectives and boundaries 5 1.3. Basic terms and definitions 7 2. Forestry and carbon 8 2.1. Introduction 8 2.2. The woodland carbon cycle 9 2.3. Example woodland C balances 11 2.4. Estimation of C stocks and components 13 2.5. UK forest carbon stock and flux figures 15 2.5.1 Forest carbon stocks 15 2.5.2 Forest carbon fluxes 18 3. Key components of the forestry C balance 20 3.1. Introduction 20 3.2. The dynamics of C accumulation in tree stands 20 3.3. Impacts of stand management on tree carbon stocks 21 3.4. Woody debris and litter 25 3.4.1 Introduction 25 3.4.2 C stocks in litter 25 3.4.3 Rates of litter C input 26 3.4.4 Root inputs to C cycling 27 3.5. Soil C stocks in UK forestry 29 3.5.1 BioSoil – a new forest soil survey 29 3.5.2 Carbon storage in the main British forest soil types 30 3.5.3 Changes in soil carbon under forestry 33 3.5.4 Distribution of organic carbon in GB forest soils 35 3.6. Harvested wood products 38 3.6.1 HWP stocks in UK 38 3.6.2 The dynamics of carbon in harvested wood. 38 3.7. Substitution by woodfuel and wood products 41 3.7.1 Direct substitution: woodfuel 41 3.7.2 Indirect substitution: use of wood products 42 3.7.3 The dynamics of emissions reductions through substitution 43 4. Fluxes of C and other GHG in forestry 45 4.1. Introduction 45 4.2. GHG fluxes from forests 45 4.2.1 Review of available information 45 4.2.2 Peatland GHG exchange 48 4.2.3 Summary of GHG emissions from forest soils 50 4.2.4 GHG emissions from forest stands 52 4.2.5 National forest GHG budget verification 54 4.3. Fluxes of soil DOC in UK forestry 54 4.4. Site preparation 56 4.4.1 Soil disturbance during preparation 56 iii 4.4.2 Fossil fuel use 57 4.5. Stand establishment 58 4.5.1 Plant production 58 4.5.2 Restocking 59 4.6. Forest harvest 60 4.6.1 Thinning and harvesting operations 60 4.6.2 Consequences of clearfelling and harvesting on GHG emissions 61 4.6.3 Characterising the GHG impacts of forest residue harvesting 62 4.7. Timber transport and road building 66 4.7.1 Timber haulage 66 4.7.2 Road building 67 4.8. Afforestation 67 4.8.1 Introduction 67 4.8.2 Soil C changes with afforestation on mineral soils 68 4.8.3 Soil C changes with afforestation on organic soils 69 4.8.4 GHG fluxes and peatland afforestation 70 4.8.5 Changes in C stocks in other vegetation 71 4.9. Continuous cover and other management systems 72 5. Estimating C and GHG fluxes during the management cycle 73 5.1. Introduction 73 5.2. Phases in the forest management cycle 73 5.3. Estimation of forest C and GHG balances using CSORT 74 5.3.1 Overview 74 5.3.2 CSORT model description 74 5.4. CSORT model outputs 81 5.4.1 The establishment phase 81 5.4.2 The initial phase 84 5.4.3 The full vigour phase 86 5.4.4 The mature phase 88 5.4.5 The old-growth phase 89 5.5. Results for example forest management cycles 90 5.6. Application and interpretation of results for forest management cycles 92 5.7. Plans to further develop the CSORT model 96 6. Key conclusions, evidence gaps and research needs 97 6.1. Forestry, the carbon cycle and carbon stocks 97 6.2. Woodland stand C dynamics 97 6.3. Litter and coarse woody debris C stocks 98 6.4. Woodland soil C stocks 99 6.5. Quantifying the role of harvested wood products 100 6.6. Quantifying the role of material and fuel substitution 100 6.7. Assessment of forest C and GHG fluxes 101 6.8. Impacts of forest management 101 6.9. Forest operations effects 102 6.10. Use and development of C accounting models 102 6.11. Concluding points 103 iv References 104 Appendices 120 Appendix 1. Table of standing biomass in GB woodland 120 Appendix 2. The FC soil classification system 121 Appendix 3. The C dynamics in harvested wood products 122 Appendix 4. Carbon content of timber 123 Appendix 5. Summary of measured forest soil GHG fluxes 124 Appendix 6. CSORT soil C sub-model 131 Appendix 7. CSORT calculations of forest operations and wood processing 135 Appendix 8. Example CSORT C balances for forest management cycles 138 Notes, symbols and abbreviations and glossary 147 Notes 147 Symbols and abbreviations 147 Glossary 149 v vi Executive summary • Forests and woodlands are a key component of the global • Various empirical relationships and coefficients are carbon cycle, and their effective management at global and used to calculate total tree C stocks from standard stem regional scales is an important mechanism for reducing volume measurements. Timber C content must be taken atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations. into account as it varies by a factor of nearly 2, with Forests constitute a substantial stock of carbon (C) in the broadleaved species typically higher than conifers. Carbon trees, other vegetation and in soils; growing more trees in the branches, non-merchantable stem and foliage will result in more carbon removal from the atmosphere. may contribute 30–70% of the above-ground biomass Forestry products also represent a considerable C stock; (although foliage is a small component). Roots may moreover, the use of woodfuel can substitute for fossil fuel comprise 20–35% of the total C stocks in trees, with larger combustion and wood products can substitute for other proportions in broadleaves than in conifers. The empirical more fossil-fuel intensive materials. relationships between stem biomass and total tree C stocks are better established for the main commercial conifer • Understanding what determines the size of forestry C species than others. Relationships for broadleaved species, stocks and their components, and the processes and presently ‘minor’ species, and potential ‘new’ species are controls on the exchanges of carbon dioxide (CO2) and largely unknown. In addition, the influences of different other GHG in forests and woodland, is critical in assisting management and silvicultural practices for any species are the forestry sector to contribute to reducing anthropogenic not well quantified. climate change. • While the main processes in woodland C cycles are • The objective of this review is to provide that believed to be reasonably well understood, details on understanding by summarising key information on C stocks some components, particularly below ground are lacking. and fluxes in UK forests, and the fluxes of other GHGs, and There are very few complete C balances for UK woodlands, how these are affected by changes as tree stands grow, and where the different C stocks and fluxes between them are by forest management decisions and forestry operations. well quantified for particular stands. Direct measurement of The review also aims to highlight evidence gaps and the CO2 taken up by UK forests has also been very limited, limitations in the available information and consequent with just two long-term sets of measurements (one conifer future research needs and directions.
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