Grasslands may be more reliable carbon sinks than forests in California
Dass, Pawlok ; Houlton, Benjamin Z. ; Wang, Yingping and Warlind, David LU
(2018)
In Environmental Research Letters
13(7).
- Abstract
Although natural terrestrial ecosystems have sequestered ∼25% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, the long-term sustainability of this key ecosystem service is under question. Forests have traditionally been viewed as robust carbon (C) sinks; however, extreme heat-waves, drought and wildfire have increased tree mortality, particularly in widespread semi-arid regions, which account for ∼41% of Earth's land surface. Using a set of modeling experiments, we show that California grasslands are a more resilient C sink than forests in response to 21st century changes in climate, with implications for designing climate-smart Cap and Trade offset policies. The resilience of grasslands to rising temperatures, drought and fire, coupled with... (More)
Although natural terrestrial ecosystems have sequestered ∼25% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, the long-term sustainability of this key ecosystem service is under question. Forests have traditionally been viewed as robust carbon (C) sinks; however, extreme heat-waves, drought and wildfire have increased tree mortality, particularly in widespread semi-arid regions, which account for ∼41% of Earth's land surface. Using a set of modeling experiments, we show that California grasslands are a more resilient C sink than forests in response to 21st century changes in climate, with implications for designing climate-smart Cap and Trade offset policies. The resilience of grasslands to rising temperatures, drought and fire, coupled with the preferential banking of C to belowground sinks, helps to preserve sequestered terrestrial C and prevent it from re-entering the atmosphere. In contrast, California forests appear unable to cope with unmitigated global changes in the climate, switching from substantial C sinks to C sources by at least the mid-21st century. These results highlight the inherent risk of relying on forest C offsets in the absence of management interventions to avoid substantial fire-driven C emissions. On the other hand, since grassland environments, including tree-sparse rangelands, appear more capable of maintaining C sinks in 21st century, such ecosystems should be considered as an alternative C offset to climate-vulnerable forests. The further development of climate-smart approaches in California's carbon marketplace could serve as an example to offset programs around the world, particularly those expanding into widespread arid and semi-arid regions.
(Less)
- author
- Dass, Pawlok
; Houlton, Benjamin Z.
; Wang, Yingping
and Warlind, David
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2018
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Cap, Carbon cycle, Climate change, Drought, Forest, Grassland, Trade, Wildfire
- in
- Environmental Research Letters
- volume
- 13
- issue
- 7
- article number
- 074027
- publisher
- IOP Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85056560239
- ISSN
- 1748-9326
- DOI
- 10.1088/1748-9326/aacb39
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- fcadb7a6-289e-4874-b8d3-69c89b4b3263
- date added to LUP
- 2018-11-28 10:08:21
- date last changed
- 2023-01-23 02:10:13
@article{fcadb7a6-289e-4874-b8d3-69c89b4b3263,
abstract = {{<p>Although natural terrestrial ecosystems have sequestered ∼25% of anthropogenic CO<sub>2</sub> emissions, the long-term sustainability of this key ecosystem service is under question. Forests have traditionally been viewed as robust carbon (C) sinks; however, extreme heat-waves, drought and wildfire have increased tree mortality, particularly in widespread semi-arid regions, which account for ∼41% of Earth's land surface. Using a set of modeling experiments, we show that California grasslands are a more resilient C sink than forests in response to 21st century changes in climate, with implications for designing climate-smart Cap and Trade offset policies. The resilience of grasslands to rising temperatures, drought and fire, coupled with the preferential banking of C to belowground sinks, helps to preserve sequestered terrestrial C and prevent it from re-entering the atmosphere. In contrast, California forests appear unable to cope with unmitigated global changes in the climate, switching from substantial C sinks to C sources by at least the mid-21st century. These results highlight the inherent risk of relying on forest C offsets in the absence of management interventions to avoid substantial fire-driven C emissions. On the other hand, since grassland environments, including tree-sparse rangelands, appear more capable of maintaining C sinks in 21st century, such ecosystems should be considered as an alternative C offset to climate-vulnerable forests. The further development of climate-smart approaches in California's carbon marketplace could serve as an example to offset programs around the world, particularly those expanding into widespread arid and semi-arid regions.</p>}},
author = {{Dass, Pawlok and Houlton, Benjamin Z. and Wang, Yingping and Warlind, David}},
issn = {{1748-9326}},
keywords = {{Cap; Carbon cycle; Climate change; Drought; Forest; Grassland; Trade; Wildfire}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{7}},
publisher = {{IOP Publishing}},
series = {{Environmental Research Letters}},
title = {{Grasslands may be more reliable carbon sinks than forests in California}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aacb39}},
doi = {{10.1088/1748-9326/aacb39}},
volume = {{13}},
year = {{2018}},
}