Cargando…

Assessment of carbon in woody plants and soil across a vineyard-woodland landscape

BACKGROUND: Quantification of ecosystem services, such as carbon (C) storage, can demonstrate the benefits of managing for both production and habitat conservation in agricultural landscapes. In this study, we evaluated C stocks and woody plant diversity across vineyard blocks and adjoining woodland...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Williams, John N, Hollander, Allan D, O'Geen, A Toby, Thrupp, L Ann, Hanifin, Robert, Steenwerth, Kerri, McGourty, Glenn, Jackson, Louise E
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3287142/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22070870
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1750-0680-6-11
_version_ 1782224622377238528
author Williams, John N
Hollander, Allan D
O'Geen, A Toby
Thrupp, L Ann
Hanifin, Robert
Steenwerth, Kerri
McGourty, Glenn
Jackson, Louise E
author_facet Williams, John N
Hollander, Allan D
O'Geen, A Toby
Thrupp, L Ann
Hanifin, Robert
Steenwerth, Kerri
McGourty, Glenn
Jackson, Louise E
author_sort Williams, John N
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Quantification of ecosystem services, such as carbon (C) storage, can demonstrate the benefits of managing for both production and habitat conservation in agricultural landscapes. In this study, we evaluated C stocks and woody plant diversity across vineyard blocks and adjoining woodland ecosystems (wildlands) for an organic vineyard in northern California. Carbon was measured in soil from 44 one m deep pits, and in aboveground woody biomass from 93 vegetation plots. These data were combined with physical landscape variables to model C stocks using a geographic information system and multivariate linear regression. RESULTS: Field data showed wildlands to be heterogeneous in both C stocks and woody tree diversity, reflecting the mosaic of several different vegetation types, and storing on average 36.8 Mg C/ha in aboveground woody biomass and 89.3 Mg C/ha in soil. Not surprisingly, vineyard blocks showed less variation in above- and belowground C, with an average of 3.0 and 84.1 Mg C/ha, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This research demonstrates that vineyards managed with practices that conserve some fraction of adjoining wildlands yield benefits for increasing overall C stocks and species and habitat diversity in integrated agricultural landscapes. For such complex landscapes, high resolution spatial modeling is challenging and requires accurate characterization of the landscape by vegetation type, physical structure, sufficient sampling, and allometric equations that relate tree species to each landscape. Geographic information systems and remote sensing techniques are useful for integrating the above variables into an analysis platform to estimate C stocks in these working landscapes, thereby helping land managers qualify for greenhouse gas mitigation credits. Carbon policy in California, however, shows a lack of focus on C stocks compared to emissions, and on agriculture compared to other sectors. Correcting these policy shortcomings could create incentives for ecosystem service provision, including C storage, as well as encourage better farm stewardship and habitat conservation.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3287142
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2011
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-32871422012-02-29 Assessment of carbon in woody plants and soil across a vineyard-woodland landscape Williams, John N Hollander, Allan D O'Geen, A Toby Thrupp, L Ann Hanifin, Robert Steenwerth, Kerri McGourty, Glenn Jackson, Louise E Carbon Balance Manag Research BACKGROUND: Quantification of ecosystem services, such as carbon (C) storage, can demonstrate the benefits of managing for both production and habitat conservation in agricultural landscapes. In this study, we evaluated C stocks and woody plant diversity across vineyard blocks and adjoining woodland ecosystems (wildlands) for an organic vineyard in northern California. Carbon was measured in soil from 44 one m deep pits, and in aboveground woody biomass from 93 vegetation plots. These data were combined with physical landscape variables to model C stocks using a geographic information system and multivariate linear regression. RESULTS: Field data showed wildlands to be heterogeneous in both C stocks and woody tree diversity, reflecting the mosaic of several different vegetation types, and storing on average 36.8 Mg C/ha in aboveground woody biomass and 89.3 Mg C/ha in soil. Not surprisingly, vineyard blocks showed less variation in above- and belowground C, with an average of 3.0 and 84.1 Mg C/ha, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This research demonstrates that vineyards managed with practices that conserve some fraction of adjoining wildlands yield benefits for increasing overall C stocks and species and habitat diversity in integrated agricultural landscapes. For such complex landscapes, high resolution spatial modeling is challenging and requires accurate characterization of the landscape by vegetation type, physical structure, sufficient sampling, and allometric equations that relate tree species to each landscape. Geographic information systems and remote sensing techniques are useful for integrating the above variables into an analysis platform to estimate C stocks in these working landscapes, thereby helping land managers qualify for greenhouse gas mitigation credits. Carbon policy in California, however, shows a lack of focus on C stocks compared to emissions, and on agriculture compared to other sectors. Correcting these policy shortcomings could create incentives for ecosystem service provision, including C storage, as well as encourage better farm stewardship and habitat conservation. BioMed Central 2011-11-09 /pmc/articles/PMC3287142/ /pubmed/22070870 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1750-0680-6-11 Text en Copyright ©2011 Williams et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Williams, John N
Hollander, Allan D
O'Geen, A Toby
Thrupp, L Ann
Hanifin, Robert
Steenwerth, Kerri
McGourty, Glenn
Jackson, Louise E
Assessment of carbon in woody plants and soil across a vineyard-woodland landscape
title Assessment of carbon in woody plants and soil across a vineyard-woodland landscape
title_full Assessment of carbon in woody plants and soil across a vineyard-woodland landscape
title_fullStr Assessment of carbon in woody plants and soil across a vineyard-woodland landscape
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of carbon in woody plants and soil across a vineyard-woodland landscape
title_short Assessment of carbon in woody plants and soil across a vineyard-woodland landscape
title_sort assessment of carbon in woody plants and soil across a vineyard-woodland landscape
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3287142/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22070870
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1750-0680-6-11
work_keys_str_mv AT williamsjohnn assessmentofcarboninwoodyplantsandsoilacrossavineyardwoodlandlandscape
AT hollanderalland assessmentofcarboninwoodyplantsandsoilacrossavineyardwoodlandlandscape
AT ogeenatoby assessmentofcarboninwoodyplantsandsoilacrossavineyardwoodlandlandscape
AT thrupplann assessmentofcarboninwoodyplantsandsoilacrossavineyardwoodlandlandscape
AT hanifinrobert assessmentofcarboninwoodyplantsandsoilacrossavineyardwoodlandlandscape
AT steenwerthkerri assessmentofcarboninwoodyplantsandsoilacrossavineyardwoodlandlandscape
AT mcgourtyglenn assessmentofcarboninwoodyplantsandsoilacrossavineyardwoodlandlandscape
AT jacksonlouisee assessmentofcarboninwoodyplantsandsoilacrossavineyardwoodlandlandscape