Modeling carbon stocks in European forests
Carbon is an essential element. Natural stocks are found in living and dead plant and animal species and in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. Carbon is cycled through the air- soil- water environment continuously. With regard to stocks of carbon, the project considered carbon in forested areas, in particular aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, litter and soil. The aim of the project was to establish and evaluate methodologies for the assessment of carbon stock in forested areas. A test area was established to model real afforestation/ reforestation situations. Using forest inventory data, an estimation of the above ground biomass stock was made. By using site-specific factors developed in the study, this data was translated into carbon data. Biomass equations were also developed which would allow carbon data to be assessed more accurately in other situations. Soil and litter stock changes were evaluated using site-specific data by considering changes with time of the carbonaceous matter within the test site. An uncertainty analysis was also carried out to illustrate the methods and the extent to which the derived uncertainty could be incorporated into project results. In addition to these results, guidelines were also established concerning the various methodologies that can be used in afforestation/ reforestation studies and also in clean development mechanism, CDM, projects. The user friendly carbon stock estimation model developed can be used to carbon stores in forestry and can be researched further to consider more general applications such as integration with a GIS frame.
