TY - JOUR
T1 - Improving national-scale carbon stock inventories using knowledge on land use history
AU - Schulp, Catherina J.E.
AU - Verburg, Peter H.
AU - Kuikman, Peter J.
AU - Nabuurs, Gert-Jan
AU - Olivier, Jos G.J.
AU - de Vries, Wim
AU - Veldkamp, Tom
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - National-scale inventories of soil organic carbon (SOC) and forest floor carbon (FFC) stocks have a high uncertainty. Inventories are often based on the interpolation of sampled information, often using a number of covariables to help such interpolation. The rationale for the choice of these covariables is not always documented, despite the fact that many local-scale studies have identified the factors explaining spatial variability of SOC and FFC stocks. These studies indicate, among others the importance of long-term land use history. Despite this, information on the effects of land use history has never been used to explain variability of carbon stocks in national-scale inventories. We designed an alternative method to improve national-scale inventories of SOC and FCC for the Dutch sand area that takes stock of the findings of detailed case studies. Determinants for SOC and FFC stocks derived from landscape-scale case studies were used to map national-scale spatial variability and to calculate national totals. The resulting national-scale spatial distribution was compared with the SOC stock map from the current Dutch greenhouse gas inventory. Using land use history to explain SOC variability decreased the error of the SOC stock estimate in 60 % of the area. The error in FFC stocks decreased in half of the forest area after including soil fertility, tree species, and forest age as explanatory factors. Estimates with reduced uncertainty will make land use and land management a more attractive and acceptable mitigation option to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases for the LULUCF sector.
AB - National-scale inventories of soil organic carbon (SOC) and forest floor carbon (FFC) stocks have a high uncertainty. Inventories are often based on the interpolation of sampled information, often using a number of covariables to help such interpolation. The rationale for the choice of these covariables is not always documented, despite the fact that many local-scale studies have identified the factors explaining spatial variability of SOC and FFC stocks. These studies indicate, among others the importance of long-term land use history. Despite this, information on the effects of land use history has never been used to explain variability of carbon stocks in national-scale inventories. We designed an alternative method to improve national-scale inventories of SOC and FCC for the Dutch sand area that takes stock of the findings of detailed case studies. Determinants for SOC and FFC stocks derived from landscape-scale case studies were used to map national-scale spatial variability and to calculate national totals. The resulting national-scale spatial distribution was compared with the SOC stock map from the current Dutch greenhouse gas inventory. Using land use history to explain SOC variability decreased the error of the SOC stock estimate in 60 % of the area. The error in FFC stocks decreased in half of the forest area after including soil fertility, tree species, and forest age as explanatory factors. Estimates with reduced uncertainty will make land use and land management a more attractive and acceptable mitigation option to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases for the LULUCF sector.
KW - ITC-ISI-JOURNAL-ARTICLE
KW - Soil organic carbon stock
KW - Forest floor carbon stock
KW - The Netherlands
KW - Upscaling
KW - Greenhouse gas inventories
KW - Land use history
UR - https://ezproxy2.utwente.nl/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00267-012-9975-6
UR - https://ezproxy2.utwente.nl/login?url=https://webapps.itc.utwente.nl/library/2013/isi/veldkamp_imp.pdf
U2 - 10.1007/s00267-012-9975-6
DO - 10.1007/s00267-012-9975-6
M3 - Article
VL - 51
SP - 709
EP - 723
JO - Environmental management
JF - Environmental management
SN - 0364-152X
M1 - 3
ER -