Developing Canada's National Forest Carbon Monitoring, Accounting and Reporting System to Meet the Reporting Requirements of the Kyoto Protocol

The rate of carbon accumulation in the atmosphere can be reduced by decreasing emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and by increasing the net uptake (or reducing the net loss) of carbon in terrestrial (and aquatic) ecosystems. The Kyoto Protocol addresses both the release and uptake of carbon. Canada is developing a National Forest Carbon Monitoring, Accounting and Reporting System in support of its international obligations to report greenhouse gas sources and sinks. This system employs forest-inventory data, growth and yield information, and statistics on natural disturbances, management actions and land-use change to estimate forest carbon stocks, changes in carbon stocks, and emissions of non-CO₂ greenhouse gases. A key component of the system is the Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector (CBM-CFS). The model is undergoing extensive revisions to enable analyses at four spatial scales (national, provincial, forest management unit and stand) and in annual time steps. The model and the supporting databases can be used to assess carbon-stock changes between 1990 and the present, and to predict future carbon-stock changes based on scenarios of future disturbance rates and management actions.     

Simulating dairy liquid waste management options as a nitrogen source for crops

Large scale dairy operations are common. In many cases the manure is deposited on a paved surface and then removed with a flushing system, after which the solids are separated, the liquid stored in ponds, and eventually the liquid applied on adjacent crop land. Management of liquid manure to maximize the fertilizer value and minimize water quality degradation requires knowledge of the interactive effects of mineralization of organic N (ON) to NH₄⁺, crop uptake of mineral N, and leaching of NO₃⁻ on a temporal basis. The purpose of the research was to use the ENVIRO-GRO model to simulate how the amount of applied N, timing of N application, ON mineralization rates, chemical form of N applied, and irrigation uniformity affected (1) yields of corn (Zea mays) in summer and a forage grass in winter in a Mediterranean climate and (2) the amount of NO₃⁻ leached below the root zone. This management practice is typical for dairies in the San Joaquin Valley of California. The simulations were conducted for a 10-year period. Steady state conditions, whereby an equivalent amount of N applied in the organic form will be mineralized in a given year, are achieved more rapidly for materials with high mineralization rates. Both timing and total quantity of N application are important in affecting crop yield and potential N leaching. Major conclusions from the simulations are as follows. Frequent low applications are preferred to less frequent higher applications. Increasing the amount of N application increased both the crop yield and the amount of NO₃⁻ leached. Increasing irrigation uniformity increased crop yields but had variable effects on the amount of NO₃⁻ leached. A winter forage crop following a summer corn crop effectively reduced the leaching of residual soil N following the corn crop.     

Can Forest-protection carbon projects improve rural livelihoods? Analysis of the Noel Kempff Mercado climate action project,Bolivia

We studied the Noel KempffMercado Climate Action Project (NKMCAP),Bolivia, to assess whether forestprotection carbon (C) projects cansignificantly benefit local people. Wehypothesized that forest protection canonly securely deliver C if significantstakeholders are meaningfully andtransparently involved, traditional orcustomary rights are recognized and theirloss compensated for, and there are directlinkages between conservation anddevelopment objective. Our researchfocused on 53 members of the communities ofFlorida, Porvenir and Piso Firme and 36secondary stakeholders. In each of thevillages we held half-day meetings withcommunity leaders, complemented bysemi-structured one-hour interviews with 5,10, and 7 families, representing 20%, 10%and 8% of each community. The long-termimpact of the NKMCAP on the localcommunities may well be positive. However,in the short run, certain sections of thelocal communities are financially poorer. Forest protection projects clearly have thepotential to sequester C, protectbiodiversity and simultaneously contributeto sustainable rural development, but ifthey really are to improve rurallivelihoods, they must be designed andimplemented carefully and participatively.     

博茨瓦纳欧科范果湿地1972～2000年泛滥方式

欧科范果三角洲地区泛滥范围年年在变化.这种变化与安哥拉高地集水区的区域性降水及当地降雨量有关.我们采用了1972～2000年的3000多幅卫星图像来描绘湿地的格局,其中从1985～2000年的图像几乎是NOAAAVHRR每日连续传送的,1972年以来的其它图像是从Landsat传感器上传下来的,其连续性次之.对AVHRR图像每10天为一期,用无监督分类方法分成陆地和水体.对LandsatTM和ERS2-ATSR数据进行分析的结果,与测算的淹没区域89%相吻合.结果显示欧科范果湿地近期30年期间的变化约在2450～11400km2之间.     

Differential N uptake by maize cultivars and soil nitrate dynamics under N fertilization in West Africa

Nitrate is prone to leaching in the sandy soils of the West African moist savannas. Better management of nitrogen (N) resources and maize cultivars with enhanced genetic capacity to capture and utilize soil and fertilizer N are strategies that could improve N-use efficiency. In two field experiments conducted at Zaria, northern Nigeria, five maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars planted early in the season were assessed under various N levels for differences in N uptake, soil N dynamics, and related N losses. Cultivar TZB-SR accumulated more N in the aboveground plant parts in both years than the other cultivars. All, except the semi-prolific late (SPL) variety, met about 50–60% of their N demand by the time of silking (64–69 DAP). In both years, SPL had the greatest capacity to take up N during the grain filling period, and it had the highest grain-N concentration and the least apparent N loss through leaching in the second year. There were no significant differences in soil N dynamics among cultivars in both years. At harvest, the residual N in the upper 90 cm of the profile under all the cultivars ranged from 56 to 72 kg ha⁻¹ in the first year and from 73 to 83 kg ha⁻¹ in the second year. Apparent N loss from 0 to 90 cm soil profile through leaching ranged from 35 to 122 kg ha⁻¹ in both years. N application significantly increased N uptake by more than 30% at all sampling dates in the second year of the experiment, but had no effect on apparent N loss. Results indicate that the use of maize cultivars with high N uptake capacity during the grain filling period when maximum leaching losses occur could enhance N recovery and may be effective in reducing leaching losses of mineral N in the moist savanna soils.     

Hybridization between wheat (Triticum aestivum) and the wild species Aegilops geniculata and A. biuncialis under experimental field conditions

Hybridization between Aegilops geniculata, A. biuncialis and bread wheat Triticum aestivum has been evaluated during two seasons under simulated field conditions to estimate the field hybridization rate under Central Spain conditions. The mean frequencies of hybridization between A. biuncialis and A. geniculata with wheat were 0.34% and 0.31%, respectively. Data from 10 hybrid plants for each combination showed that hybrids can be partially fertile by backcrossing with wheat parent, with percent averages of 3.17 grains/spikelets for A. biuncialis × wheat hybrids and 2.87 grains/spikelets for A. geniculata × wheat hybrids. Self-pollination, although at very low rates, was also possible in hybrids. The potential risks associated with natural hybridization in the context of transgenic wheat cultivation are discussed.     

Toxic metals in sewage sludge-amended soils: has promotion of beneficial use discounted the risks?

Land application of contaminated waste products has been defended as beneficial use by some scientists and regulators, based on the premise that the behavior of any toxins accumulated in soils from this practice is reasonably well understood and will not have detrimental agronomic or environmental impacts into the foreseeable future. In this review, I use the case of toxic metals in sewage sludges applied to agricultural land to illustrate that metal behavior in soils and plant uptake is difficult to generalize because it is strongly dependent on the nature of the metal, sludge, soil properties and crop. Nevertheless, permitted agricultural loadings of toxic metals from sewage sludges are typically regulated using the sole criterion of total metal loading or concentrations in soils. Several critical generalizing assumptions about the behavior of sludge-borne metals in soil-crop systems, built into the US EPA risk assessment for metals, have tended to underestimate risks and are shown not to be well justified by published research. It is argued that, in the absence of a basic understanding of metal behavior in each specific situation, a more precautionary approach to toxic metal additions to soils is warranted.