[Terrapreta] CO2 rising

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi Brian,

You stated R:S ratios for grassland at 4:1 and for forestland at what? 1:2.5 or something like that?  Just looking at R:S your conclusion is correct I think, that grasslands hold more carbon in the soil than forest lands do.   But, as far as how much carbon gets held in and on how much area of land, this R:S shoot argument is USELESS!  You can see why, right?

Try this ... 10t of C in grass and 40t of C in grass roots <= your example.  How about 200 t of carbon in tree roots and 500 t of C in tree trunks, branches, stems, and leaves.  Which is a bigger number?  700 t of carbon of 50 t of carbon?

Do you kind of see how BOTH your R:S numbers can be valid and the comparison of them says NOTHING about the relative amounts of carbon held in forest land versus grassland?  Do you see how even with a larger R:S ratio, an acre of grassland DOES NOT hold more carbon than an acre of forest land (10 < 200)?

How is that mat feeling?

Regards,

SKB
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Brian Hans<mailto:bhans at earthmimic.com> 
  To: Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org<mailto:Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> 
  Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2007 7:28 AM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] CO2 rising




  Michael Bailes <michaelangelica at gmail.com<mailto:michaelangelica at gmail.com>> wrote: 
          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. 


    All very interesting because it is so counter intuitive
    Like Southern Oceans dissolving more CO2 because they are COLDER
    (No, not being an Irish dyslectic as in pH post)
    Heaven help us when we start intentionally mucking about with the weather/planet/ecosystem/Gaia 

    Australian aborigines developed the forests of Australia by the use of fire.  Fire cleared the forest allowed grass to grow. (thereby attracting food-kangaroos), made hollow log shelters for delicious echinas or goannas and other animals and deposited ash and some carbon.
     Australian soils are very old and very geologically stable, highly weathered and deficient in phosphorus. Ash from burning helped provide this. 
     Many plants  evolved seed germination that depended on fire. Most native trees are not killed by fire, except now where there are no aborigines to care for the land, forest litter builds up and fires become to hot and wild. 
    Bush-fire control people often do controlled burning in winter but often this is difficult due to the  wheather (too windy to wet too dry etc)or danger of smoke over roads & expressways, damage to houses, farms etc etc 

    I am reminded of farmer friends near Tarmor in the S W wheat belt of NSW. When settlers first went to the area 150 or so years ago it was covered in grasses higher than a man. Excitedly settlers stared to grow whet in the area. My friends get a crop of wheat probably once every five years;. and that is not when there is the 1in 1,000 year drought we have on now.  Normal rainfall is 8" inches a year. That's in good years.

  I will talk about this in your next post... 

  How much biomass do grasses have underground?

  Like I linked...a ratio of ~ R:S ratio of 4:1. So if there is 10t above ground biomass...there is 40t below ground. That is in a prairie ecosystem. Remember that prairies and other grass lands are dominated by fire...so the roots live and the top gets a haircut. Grasslands quote ive heard a few times 'below ground is where all the real action takes place. Aboveground is just solar panels and sex organs'


      P.S. Did I forget to mention the cooling effect that a large tree canopies have on soil organics? I do think this is important also... 10 degrees F?

    This might be important in our "tarred over" cities, suburbs and malls re the albedo effect.




  Yes that could play a role...likely does. I mentioned before that 'soil organisms cannot make their own food...they have to steal it from autotrophs because its dark down there.' Same for forest floors, dark, cool, damp (no sun evapo)...fungi heaven!

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