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Improving wood carbon fractions for multiscale forest carbon estimation
Mahendra Doraisami1, Grant M Domke2, Adam R Martin3
1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Scarborough, M1C 1A4, Canada.
Carbon Balance and Management
|August 14, 2024
Summary
Refined wood carbon fractions (CFs) offer more accurate forest carbon estimates than the traditional 50% assumption. Updated CFs and a new framework can improve global forest carbon inventory protocols.
Area of Science:
- Forestry science
- Ecology
- Biogeochemistry
Background:
- Wood carbon fractions (CFs) are crucial for forest carbon stock estimations.
- Traditional 50% CF assumption is outdated; recent studies show significant biome and taxonomic variations.
- The IPCC's 2006 guidelines offered improved CFs but are superseded by newer, more robust data.
Discussion:
- Current IPCC-recommended CFs and those in many models differ significantly from recent, data-rich studies.
- These discrepancies can lead to substantial errors in forest carbon estimates, especially in tropical regions using Tier 1 methods.
- A novel decision-making framework is proposed for integrating species- and location-specific CFs.
Key Insights:
- Newer studies provide more accurate, spatially and taxonomically specific wood CFs.
- Existing forest carbon estimation protocols may overestimate or underestimate carbon stocks.
- Refined CFs are essential for improving the accuracy of global forest carbon inventories.
Outlook:
- The proposed refined CFs can inform updates to IPCC guidelines.
- The novel decision-making framework facilitates the integration of data-driven CFs into various forest carbon estimation protocols.
- Enhanced accuracy in forest carbon estimation supports climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.
