The Carbon Farming Initiative and Agricultural Emissions This
The Carbon Farming Initiative and Agricultural Emissions This presentation was prepared by the University of Melbourne for the Regional Landcare Facilitator training funded through the Australian Government’s Carbon Farming Initiative Communications Program
PART 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURAL EMISSIONS AND SINKS This presentation provides a basic understanding of the soil, plant and animal carbon and nitrogen cycles
The Carbon cycle http: //www. davidsuzuki. org/files/CCcarboncycle. GIF C-stocks in Pg (Gt), C-fluxes in Pg yr-1; Pg = 1015 g = 1 Gt (gigatonne) • Large carbon pools, relatively small fluxes between pools • More carbon emissions than carbon uptake fossil fuel emissions • Increase carbon sinks – increase terrestrial plant or soil sinks
Global forest distribution www. fao. org/forestry
10 8 y-1) CO 2 emissions (Pg. C Sources of global CO 2 emissions 6 Fossil fuel 4 Land use change 2 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Le Quéré et al. 2009, Nature-Geoscience; Data: CDIAC, FAO, Woods Hole Research Center 2009 12% of total anthropogenic emissions Slide courtesy of J. Canadell, Global Carbon Project
Carbon stocks and sequestration Carbon stock/pools How much C at one point in time Aboveground biomass Leaves, stem, branches Litter & coarse woody debris Below ground biomass Coarse roots, fine roots, microbes Soil carbon Stable and labile fractions Carbon sequestration Change of C stock over time
NPP
Net primary productivity belowground aboveground Forests produce most of the terrestrial carbon Tropical forest are the most productive Crops produce mainly aboveground NPP consequences for soil C 0. 5 2. 6 8. 1 21. 9 14. 9 7. 0 3. 5 4. 1 NPP Pg C yr -1 Saugier (2001) IN: Terrestrial Global Productivity
The Carbon cycle • Human activity greatly influences the global C cycle • The sink capacity of natural CO 2 sinks is decreasing, leading to increased atmospheric CO 2 • Forest ecosystems are the greatest carbon sink in the terrestrial biosphere • Globally, soils store more C than biomass • The capacity of an ecosystem to store C is determined by the balance of C uptake (photosynthesis) and C loss (respiration)
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