Skip Navigation


Forestry Advance Access originally published online on August 3, 2006
Forestry 2006 79(4):361-369; doi:10.1093/forestry/cpl026
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
79/4/361    most recent
cpl026v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Byrne, K. A.
Right arrow Articles by Milne, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© Institute of Chartered Foresters, 2006. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Carbon stocks and sequestration in plantation forests in the Republic of Ireland

Kenneth A. Byrne1,* and Ronald Milne2

1 Centre for Hydrology, Micrometeorology and Climate Change, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
2 Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (Edinburgh), Bush Estate, Penicuik, EH26 OQB, Scotland

*Corresponding author. E-mail: k.byrne{at}ucc.ie

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol (KP) have created a clear need for methods that enable accurate accounting of carbon (C) stocks and stock changes in forest ecosystems. The rate of accumulation of C in plantation forests in the Republic of Ireland was estimated for the period 1906–2002 using the record of afforestation and a dynamic C accounting model (C-flow). Projections for the period 2003–2012 were made using different afforestation rates. It was assumed that Sitka spruce planted in the period 1906–1989 was Yield Class (YC) 16 m3 ha–1 year–1 and that after 1990 this increased to 20 m3 ha–1 year–1. All other conifers were assumed to have the growth characteristics of YC 8 m3 ha–1 year–1 lodgepole pine. Broadleaves were assumed to have the growth characteristics of YC 6 m3 ha–1 year–1 beech. In 2002, the total forest C stock was 37.7 Mt C representing an increase of 14.8 Mt C since 1990. In 2002, the rate of increase in trees, products, litter and soil was 0.7, 0.1, 0.1 and 0.5 Mt C, respectively. Under a business-as-usual scenario, afforestation since 1990 is estimated to create an annual average C sink of 0.9 Mt C year–1 during the period 2008–2012. This accounts for ~22 per cent of Ireland's reduction commitment under the KP. Afforestation on peat soils was found to reduce the net C sink, although the extent to which it does so is highly dependent on assumptions regarding the rate of peat C loss.

Received 2 June 2005.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.