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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Soil, Water & Air Resources Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #314972
Title: Field windbreaks for bioenergy production and carbon sequestration

Author
item Sauer, Thomas
item CHENDEV, YURY - Belgorod State University
item HERNANDEZ-RAMIREZ, GUILLERMO - University Of Alberta
item GENNADIEV, ALEXANDER - Moscow State University
item PETIN, ALEKSANDR - Belgorod State University
item HALL, RICHARD - Iowa State University
item NOVYKH, LARISA - Belgorod State University
item ZAZDRAVNYKH, EVGENY - Belgorod State University
item PETINA, VALENTINA - Belgorod State University

Submitted to: North American Agroforestry Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/24/2015
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Tree windbreaks are a multi-benefit land use with the ability to mitigate climate change by modifying the local microclimate for improved crop growth and sequestering carbon in soil and biomass. Agroforestry practices are also being considered for bioenergy production by direct combustion or producing feedstock for cellulose to ethanol conversion or pyrolysis to create bio-oils. The objective of this project was to use spatially-distributed soil sampling and tree biomass measurements to determine the soil and biomass carbon sequestration potential of tree plantings across climatic gradients in the Central Russian Uplands and the U.S. Great Plains. Three Russian sampling locations spanned a gradient of mean annual temperature from 5.3 to 5.8 °C and precipitation from 480 to 580 mm. Six U.S. sampling locations had ranges of annual temperature from 3.9 to 9.2°C and precipitation from 370 to 690 mm. Tree species at the sampling sites included black poplar (Populus nigra), silver birch (Betula pendula), box elder (Acer negundo), English oak (Quercus robur) and balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) in Russia and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), redcedar (Juniperus virginiana), Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila, L.), mulberry (Morus rubra, L.), and cottonwood (Populus deltoides) in the U.S. Trees ranged in age from 19 to 70 years. Soil pit and auger samples were collected under trees and in crop fields and undisturbed grassland for reference. Samples were analyzed for organic (SOC), inorganic (SIC), and permanganate oxidizable (POXC) carbon, stable carbon isotope signature (del 13C, natural abundance), pH, and total nitrogen (TN). Tree biomass was determined either by whole tree harvest or estimates based on measured tree dimensions. SOC content and distribution beneath the trees was affected by climate with greater increases in SOC under cooler and wetter conditions. POXC and del 13C data indicate that a significant proportion of this accumulation could be attributed to tree sources. Tree biomass C and SOC data were compared with COMET 2.0 estimates to obtain regional predictions of carbon accumulation. SOC accumulation as affected by climate was characterized by a climate index to enable estimation of soil carbon stocks in existing windbreaks and to predict the potential carbon sequestration in future plantings.