Abstract
Land-use change from an unmanaged to a managed forested landscape in northern forests is associated with a reduction of the area annually affected by natural disturbances (wildfires and forest insects) and the introduction of harvesting as a new disturbance. This study examined the impacts of changes in the disturbance regime-the frequency and type of disturbance-on landscape-level carbon (C) content and fluxes. The Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector was used to assess these impacts in six representative landscapes (100,000 ha each) with a range of disturbance regimes that are characteristic of conditions in coastal British Columbia, the interior of British Columbia, and the eastern boreal forest in Canada. The model was used to simulate ecosystem C fluxes during a period of natural disturbances, a 50-year transition period during which harvesting replaced natural disturbances, followed by 150 years of harvesting. The initial landscape-level biomass C content under natural disturbance regimes in the six example landscapes was 22 to 75% of their potential maximum content which is often used as the reference or baseline case. After 200 years of forest management, the C stored in the landscape plus the C retained in forest products manufactured from harvested biomass was between 58 and 101% of the landscape C content prior to the onset of harvesting. Landscape-level ecosystem C content was found to be affected by changes in the disturbance frequency, the age-dependence of the disturbance probabilities, and the disturbance-specific impacts on ecosystem C content. The results indicate that using the potential maximum C content of a landscape as the baseline always overestimates the actual C release due to land use change. A more meaningful procedure would be to assess the actual differences in landscape-level C content between the natural and the managed disturbance regime.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alaback, P.B.: 1989, ‘Logging of temperate rainforests and the greenhouse effect: ecological factors to consider’, in: E.B. Alexander (ed.),Proceedings of Watershed ’89: A Conference on the Stewardship of Soil, Air, and Water Resources, Juneau, Alaska, March 21–23, 1989, USDA Forest Service, Alaska Region Juneau, AK, pp. 195–202.
Alban, D.H. and Perala, D.A.: 1992, ‘Carbon storage in Lake States aspen ecosystems’,Can. J. For. Res. 22, 1107–1110.
Apps, M.J.: 1993. ‘NBIOME: A biome-level study of biospheric response and feedback to potential climate changes’,World Resource Review 5(1),41–65.
Apps, M.J. and Kurz, W.A.: 1991, ‘The role of Canadian forests and forest sector activities in the global carbon balance’,World Resource Review 3(4), 333–343.
Apps, M.J. and Kurz, W.A.: 1993, ‘The role of Canadian forests in the global balance’, inCarbon Balance on World’s Forested Ecosystems: Towards a Global Assessment, Proc. Intergov. Panel on Climate Change Workshop, Joensuu, Finland, 11–15 May 1992, Publications of the Academy of Finland, Helsinki, pp. 14–28.
Apps, M.J., and Price, D.T.: 1996, ‘Chapter 1: Introduction’, in: M.J. Apps and D.T. Price (eds.),Forest Ecosystems, Forest Management and the Global Carbon Cycle, NATO ASI Series 1: Global Environmental Change, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Vol. I40, pp. 1–17.
Bergeron, Y.: 1991, ‘The influence of island and mainland lakeshore landscapes on boreal forest fire regimes’,Ecology 72(6), 1980–1992.
Clark, S.J.: 1990, ‘Fire and climate change during the last 750 yr in Northwestern Minnesota’,Ecol. Monogr. 60(2), 135–159.
Cogbill, C.V.: 1985, ‘Dynamics of the boreal forests of the Laurentian Highlands, Canada’,Can. J. For. Res. 15, 252–261.
Cohen, W.B., Harmon, M.E., Wallin, D.O. and Fiorella, M.: 1996, ‘Two decades of carbon flux from forests of the Pacific Northwest’,BioScience 46(11), 836–844.
Comeau, P.G. and Kimmins, J.P.: 1989, ‘Above- and below-ground biomass and production of lodgepole pine on sites with differing soil moisture regimes’,Can. J. For. Res. 19, 447–454.
Cooper, C.F.: 1983, ‘Carbon storage in managed forests’,Can. J. For. Res. 13, 155–166.
Dewar, R.C.: 1990, ‘A model of carbon storage in forests and forest products’,Tree Physiol. 6, 417–428.
Dewar, R.C.: 1991, ‘Analytical model of carbon storage in the trees, soils, and wood products of managed forests’,Tree Physiol. 8, 239–258.
Dixon, R.K., Brown, S., Houghton, R.A., Solomon, A.M., Trexler, M.C., and Wisniewski, J.: 1994, ‘Carbon pools and flux of global forest ecosystems’,Science 263, 185–190.
Grier, C.C. and Logan, R.S.: 1977, ‘Old-growthPseudotsuga menziesii communities of a western Oregon watershed: biomass distribution and production budgets’,Ecol. Monogr. 47, 373–400.
Harmon, M.E., Ferrell, W.K. and Franklin, J.F.: 1990, ‘Effects on carbon storage of conversion of old-growth forests to young forests’,Science 247, 699–702.
Johnson, E.A., Fryer, G.I. and Heathcott, M.J.: 1990, ‘The influence of man and climate on frequency of fire in the interior wet belt forest, British Columbia’,J. of Ecol. 78, 403–412.
Johnson, E.A. and Larson, C.P.S.: 1991, ‘Climatically induced change in fire frequency in the southern Canadian Rockies’,Ecology 72(1), 194–201.
Kaufmann, M.R., Graham, R.T., Boyce Jr., D.A., Moir, W.H., Perry, L., Reynolds, R.T., Bassett, R.L., Mehlhop, P., Edminster, C.B., Block, W.M., and Corn, P.S.: 1994,An Ecological Basis for Ecosystem Management, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station and Southwestern Region, Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rept. RM-246, 22 pp.
Kauppi, P.E., Mielikäinen, K. and Kuusela, K.: 1992, ‘Biomass and carbon budget of European forests, 1971 to 1990’,Science 256, 70–74.
Kurz, W.A. and Apps, M.J.: 1996, ‘Retrospective assessment of carbon flows in Canadian boreal forests’, in M.J. Apps and D.T. Price (eds.),Forest Ecosystems, Forest Management and the Global Carbon Cycle, NATO ASI Series 1: Global Environmental Change, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Vol. 40, pp. 173–182.
Kurz, W.A., Apps, M.J., Webb, T.M. and McNamee, P.J.: 1992,The Carbon Budget of the Canadian Forest Sector: Phase I, Forestry Canada, Northwest Region, Northern Forestry Centre, Information Report NOR-X-326, Edmonton, Alberta, 93 pp.
Kurz, W.A., Apps, M.J., Beukema, S.J. and Lekstrum, T.: 1995, ‘20th century carbon budget of Canadian forests’,Tellus 47B, 170–177.
Kurz, W.A., Apps, M.J., Comeau, P.G. and Trofymow, J.A.: 1996a,The Carbon Budget of British Columbia’s Forests, 1920–1989: Preliminary Analysis and Recommendations for Refinements, Canada-British Columbia Partnership Agreement on Forest Resource Development: FRDA II, Joint publication of Canadian Forest Service Pacific Forestry Centre and BC Ministry of Forests, Research Branch, Victoria, BC, FRDA Rept. 261, 62 pp.
Kurz, W.A., Beukema, S.J. and Apps, M.J.: 1996b, ‘Estimation of root biomass and dynamics for the carbon budget model of the Canadian forest sector’,Can. J. For. Res. 26(11), 1973–1979.
Krankina, O.N. and Harmon, M.E.: 1994, ‘The impact of intensive forest management on carbon stores in forest ecosystems’,World Resourc. Rev. 6(2), 161–177.
Li, C. and Apps, M.J.: 1996, ‘Effects of contagious disturbance on forest temporal dynamics’,Ecol. Model. 87, 143–151.
MacKinnon, A., and Eng, M.: 1995, ‘Old forests: inventory for coastal British Columbia’,Cordillera (Summer 1995), 20–33.
Marland, G. and Marland, S.: 1992, ‘Should we store carbon in trees?’,Wat. Air Soil Pollut.64, 181–195.
Payette, S.: 1992, ‘Fire as a controlling process in the North American boreal forest’, in: H.H. Shugart, R. Leemans, and G.B. Bonan (eds.),A Systems Analysis of the Global Boreal Forest, Cambridge University Press Cambridge, UK, Chapt 5, pp. 144–169.
Price, D.T., Mair, R.M., Kurz, W.A. and Apps, M.J.: 1996, ‘Effects of forest management, harvesting and wood processing on ecosystem carbon dynamics: a boreal case study’, in: M.J. Apps and D.T. Price (eds),Forest Ecosystems, Forest Management and the Global Carbon Cycle, NATO ASI Series 1: Global Environmental Change, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Vol. 40, pp. 279–292.
Price, D.T., Halliwell, D.H., Apps, M.J., Kurz, W.A. and Curry, S.R.: 1997, ‘Comprehensive assessment of carbon stocks and fluxes in a Boreal-Cordilleran forest management unit’,Can. J. For. Res. 27, 2005–2016.
Romme, W.H. and Despain, D.G.: 1989, ‘The long history of fire in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem’,Western Wildlands Summer 15(2), 10–17.
Sedjo, R.A.: 1992, ‘Temperate forest ecosystems in the global carbon cycle’,Ambio 21(4), 274–277.
Van Wagner, C.E.: 1978, ‘Age-class distribution and the forest fire cycle’,Can. J. For. Res. 8, 220–227.
Whynot, T.W. and Penner, M.: 1990,Growth and Yield of Black Spruce Ecosystems in the Ontario Clay Belt: Implications for Forest Management, Forestry Canada, Petawawa National Forestry Institute, Chalk River, Ontario, Info. Rept. PI-X-99, 81 pp.
Yarie, J.: 1981, ‘Forest fire cycles and life tables: a case study from interior Alaska’,Can. J. For. Res. 11, 554–562.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kurz, W.A., Beukema, S.J. & Apps, M.J. Carbon budget implications of the transition from natural to manged disturbance regimes in forest landscapes. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Change 2, 405–421 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02437053
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02437053