University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Estimates of global sources and sinks of carbon from land cover and land use changes

Richardson, Tosha K.

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3_Richardson_Tosha.pdf

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/14671

Description

Title
Estimates of global sources and sinks of carbon from land cover and land use changes
Author(s)
Richardson, Tosha K.
Issue Date
2010-01-06T16:20:58Z
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Jain, Atul K.
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Jain, Atul K.
Department of Study
Atmospheric Sciences
Discipline
Atmospheric Sciences
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Date of Ingest
2010-01-06T16:20:58Z
Keyword(s)
  • land use change
  • CO2 emissions
  • carbon cycle
  • Nitrogen cycle
  • secondary forests
Abstract
The distribution of sources and sinks of carbon over the land surface is dominated by changes in land use such as deforestation, reforestation, and agricultural management. Despite, the importance of land-use change in dominating long-term net terrestrial fluxes of carbon, estimates of the annual flux are uncertain relative to other terms in the global carbon budget. The interaction of the nitrogen cycle via atmospheric N inputs and N limitation with the carbon cycle contributes to the uncertain effect of land use change on terrestrial carbon uptake. This study uses two different land use datasets to force the geographically explicit terrestrial carbon-nitrogen coupled component of the Integrated Science Assessment Model (ISAM) to examine the response of terrestrial carbon stocks to historical LCLUC (cropland, pastureland and wood harvest) while accounting for changes in N deposition, atmospheric CO2 and climate. One of the land use datasets is based on satellite data (SAGE) while the other uses population density maps (HYDE), which allows this study to investigate how global LCLUC data construction can affect model estimated emissions. The timeline chosen for this study starts before the Industrial Revolution in 1765 to the year 2000 because of the influence of rising population and economic development on regional LCLUC. Additionally, this study evaluates the impact that resulting secondary forests may have on terrestrial carbon uptake. The ISAM model simulations indicate that uncertainties in net terrestrial carbon fluxes during the 1990s are largely due to uncertainties in regional LCLUC data. Also results show that secondary forests increase the terrestrial carbon sink but secondary tropical forests carbon uptake are constrained due to nutrient limitation.
Graduation Semester
2009-12
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/14671
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2009 Tosha K. Richardson

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