[Terrapreta] CO2 rising

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi Brian,

Which kind of terrestrial plants + the soil around them holds more "fixed" carbon?

SKB
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Brian Hans<mailto:bhans at earthmimic.com> 
  To: Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org<mailto:Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> 
  Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 7:40 AM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] CO2 rising


  Lou,


  All that decaying matter in an old-growth forest is turning into something. If not soil, then what? 

  Virtually 100% CO2 and other off gases of carbon. If the carbon was turning into 'soil' then wouldnt forest floors be 10ft thick black soils? Ofc they are not, why would that be?  

  I learned during my days in the Doug Fir forests of Oregon that a cubic meter of that "soil" can 
  contain more than 35,000 separate species and 2 billion individual organisms. Your statement 
  baffles me. Please elaborate. 


  Just as a forest isnt a carbon sink...neither is its floor. http://www.geology.iastate.edu/gccourse/chem/carbon/images/carboncontent2.gif<http://www.geology.iastate.edu/gccourse/chem/carbon/images/carboncontent2.gif>
  This chart is shows the loss of carbon to the system (a neg number = positive carbon fixing). Notice how the tropical forests stack up vs other ecosystems? Put plainly...the farther away you move from the equator, the less soil digestion of C and the more soil production. Why is this? Ofc is has to do with temp...boreal forest soil organisms done have 365 day 80F temps to go to work...they have to take the winter off (hard to decompose whilst frozen). 

  Another point here, grasslands do a better job of sinking carbon into the soil than does a forest y/y. Again clearly on the graph, one can see how forests generally dont make soil whilst grasslands and ag. does. Anyone who has tried to farm a newly cut forest can attest to the fact that the soils are very poor and thin VS a grassland. It can be said that prairies (grasslands in general but prairies in specific) are like an iceburg...most of the mass in under the soil line. My suspicion is that it has to do with soil biomass amount vs trees soil biomass + productivity of grasses y/y vs trees. 

  Anyone knows that tropical forest soils are very poor. But that ideal can be extrapolated to most forests...why? Because forests tend to hold their biomass within the above ground parts and prairies/grasslands/ag. tend to hold biomass closer to or below the ground level. 


  Not sure if that answers your baffling but its the best I can do this morning.  

  Brian




    On 9/21/07, Brian Hans <bhans at earthmimic.com<mailto:bhans at earthmimic.com>> wrote:


      This is not a full 'study'. No methodology, conclusion, data... but the results are obvious in my opinion...forests and especially old growth forests are not carbon sinks. 

      Prairie is a carbon sink because its producing soil, forests arnt producing soils. This important distinction gets blurred with the advent of TP...whereas forest can INFACT become soil forming carbon sinks. But...so can prairies, deserts, boreal, your herb garden in the back...etc thru the advent of TP. 



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