Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Harmon, M.E. (Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR)
• Ferrell, W.K
• Franklin, J.F

Titel

Effects on carbon storage of conversion of old-growth forests to young forests

Ist Teil von

• Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 1990-02, Vol.247 (4943), p.699-702

Ort / Verlag

Washington, DC: American Society for the Advancement of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

1990

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Simulations of carbon storage suggest that conversion of old-growth forests to young fast-growing forests will not decrease atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) in general as has been suggested recently. During simulated timber harvest, on-site carbon storage is reduced considerably and does not approach old-growth storage capacity for at least 200 years. Even when sequestration of carbon in wooden buildings is included in the models, timber harvest results in a net flux of CO2 to the atmosphere. To offset this effect, the production of lumber and other long-term wood products, as well as the lifespan of buildings, would have to increase markedly. Mass balance calculations indicate that the conversion of 5 x 10(6) hectares of old-growth forests to younger plantations in western Oregon and Washington in the last 100 years has added 1.5 x 10(9) to 1.8 x 10(9) megagrams of carbon to the atmosphere