Calculating the carbon consumption of woodlands

[Arborist Sites]

Does any body know how you can estimate how much carbon a mixed broadleaf woodland consumes every year ?

 

A client has asked us to add it into a report, it doesnt have to be totally accurate, just a rough figure.

 

As always thanks in advance

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

this will prove an interesting thread, theres a lot of variables.

 

Age of tree stock

 

age of soil

[Craig Johnson]

dont know if this help at all but its quite good(from the EAC)

 

 

Visualise

a 100 year old beech,

almost 20 metres high

and with a treetop diameter

of 12 metres. It’s got 600,000 leaves

which convert its base of

120 square metres into some 1,200 square metres

of leaf-surface. Due to the physical structure of the leaves

themselves, this amounts to a total surface area

of 15,000 square metres for gaseous exchange, which equals

the area of two football pitches! On a sunny day, this tree

converts 9,400 litres, i. e. 18 kilogrammes, of carbon dioxide.

With a carbon dioxide concentration of 0.03 % in the air,

almost 36,000 cubic metres of air have to flow through these leaves.

The leaves also filter out many airborne particles

like bacteria, fungal spores, dust and other harmful substances.

At the same time the tree evaporates almost 400 litres of water per day

and it so doing humidifies the air. Furthermore, through photosynthesis,

the tree produces 13 kilogrammes of oxygen, which equals

the needs of 10 people. Moreover, the tree produces 12 kilogrammes

of sugar on a single day, from which it develops all its

organic substances. Some of these substances are accumulated

as starch, others are used to build up the tree’s new wood.

If the tree is chopped down, because it must give way for a new road

or someone has complained about the shade from the tree or just

because the space is needed for a new shed, one would have

to plant some 2,000 new trees,

each with

a tree top volume

of 1 cubic metre

in order to

compensate

fully for the loss

of the tree.

The cost of this would amount to roughly 150,000.-

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Now that is first class info! great post, knew this was going to get interesting!

 

wish i had some figures for carbon locked up in ancient forest soils to add!

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

dont know if this help at all but its quite good(from the EAC)

 

 

Visualise

a 100 year old beech,

almost 20 metres high

and with a treetop diameter

of 12 metres. It’s got 600,000 leaves

which convert its base of

120 square metres into some 1,200 square metres

of leaf-surface. Due to the physical structure of the leaves

themselves, this amounts to a total surface area

of 15,000 square metres for gaseous exchange, which equals

the area of two football pitches! On a sunny day, this tree

converts 9,400 litres, i. e. 18 kilogrammes, of carbon dioxide.

With a carbon dioxide concentration of 0.03 % in the air,

almost 36,000 cubic metres of air have to flow through these leaves.

The leaves also filter out many airborne particles

like bacteria, fungal spores, dust and other harmful substances.

At the same time the tree evaporates almost 400 litres of water per day

and it so doing humidifies the air. Furthermore, through photosynthesis,

the tree produces 13 kilogrammes of oxygen, which equals

the needs of 10 people. Moreover, the tree produces 12 kilogrammes

of sugar on a single day, from which it develops all its

organic substances. Some of these substances are accumulated

as starch, others are used to build up the tree’s new wood.

If the tree is chopped down, because it must give way for a new road

or someone has complained about the shade from the tree or just

because the space is needed for a new shed, one would have

to plant some 2,000 new trees,

each with

a tree top volume

of 1 cubic metre

in order to

compensate

fully for the loss

of the tree.

The cost of this would amount to roughly 150,000.-

 

Brilliant!

[geoff]

Top stuff,fascinating!

[Amelanchier]

I looked at this report recently for other reasons but it does cover some of the right ground.

 

IIRC it doesn't give a carbon volume measurement (i.e., cubic metres etc) however it does give a monetary value which might be of use. I find people tend to grasp financial terms better!

 

Table 18 gives a figure of a non FC broadleaf woodland sequesting £2280 worth of "social carbon" per hectare! I presume that is per annum.

carbonseqrep0603.pdf

Edited January 17, 2010 by Amelanchier
sp.

[gibbon]

Tree Carbon Calculator

 

Not exactly what your after but could be a start

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

i dont think it is possible to have any acracy with these things as far as a standard format is concerned for calculation. its more about the age of the forest.

[Craig Johnson]

Table 18 gives a figure of a non FC broadleaf woodland sequesting £2280 worth of "social carbon" per hectare! I presume that is per annum.

 

i looked at it too and it seems high when others are quoting that Current best evidence suggests that a figure of only 40t per hectare (excluding soil) over a hundred years is a conservative best estimate of carbon sequestration by woodland.