Harvard Forest Research

Sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide in regenerating New England forests: quantifying pools and constraining fluxes

Principal Investigator: Allison Dunn
Worcester State College: May 15 2008 - May 15 2017:

Abstract:
The proposed project is a field-based study to measure sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide in a regenerating New England forest. This study will establish long-term biometric plots suitable for measuring changes in carbon storage through time in three forest stands: an early-20th-century conifer plantation, a naturally regenerating former conifer plantation harvested in the 1990s, and a conifer plantation scheduled for harvest next winter. The first year of this project will determine the initial carbon budget of these forest stands, measure carbon fluxes into and out of these stands, and lay the groundwork for future investigations. Subsequent years will investigate larger-scale questions, such as how successional patterns affect carbon sequestration, and how these patterns change with stand age. The work will also address how forestry practices influence carbon sequestration, and provide guidance for how forest management could enhance terrestrial carbon uptake in the future. In addition to providing a dataset useful to the scientific community, this work will generate papers for both conferences and peer-reviewed journals.

2009 plans: I will re-survey the three study areas where plots were established last summer (in a harvested plantation, in an adjacent unharvested plantation, and in the 1990 harvest site nearby).: