- Author: Katherine E. Kerlin
How wood is used after it is cleared from a forest and where that forest is located largely affects the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere, according to a new study by UC Davis.
The study, published this week in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Climate Change, provides a deeper understanding of the complex global impacts of deforestation on carbon storage and greenhouse gas emissions.
When trees are felled to create solid wood products, such as lumber for housing, that wood retains much of its carbon for decades, the researchers found. In contrast, when wood is used for bioenergy or turned into pulp for paper, nearly all of its carbon is released into the atmosphere. Carbon is a major contributor to greenhouse gases.
“We found that 30 years after a forest clearing, between 0 percent and 62 percent of carbon from that forest might remain in storage,” said lead author J. Mason Earles, a doctoral student with the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies. “Previous models generally assumed that it was all released immediately.”
The researchers analyzed how 169 countries use harvested forests. They learned that the temperate forests found in the United States, Canada and parts of Europe are cleared primarily for use in solid wood products, while the tropical forests of the Southern Hemisphere are more often cleared for use in energy and paper production.
“Carbon stored in forests outside Europe, the USA and Canada, for example, in tropical climates such as Brazil and Indonesia, will be almost entirely lost shortly after clearance,” the study states.
The study’s findings have potential implications for biofuel incentives based on greenhouse gas emissions. For instance, if the United States decides to incentivize corn-based ethanol, less profitable crops, such as soybeans, may shift to other countries. And those countries might clear more forests to make way for the new crops. Where those countries are located and how the wood from those forests is used would affect how much carbon would be released into the atmosphere.
Earles said the study provides new information that could help inform climate models of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading international body for the assessment of climate change.
“This is just one of the pieces that fit into this land-use issue,” said Earles. Land use is a driving factor of climate change. “We hope it will give climate models some concrete data on emissions factors they can use.”
In addition to Earles, the study, “Timing of carbon emissions from global forest clearance,” was co-authored by Sonia Yeh, a research scientist with the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, and Kenneth E. Skog of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.
The study was funded by the California Air Resources Board and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
When you drive around Yolo County farmlands, you may see them: a colorful mix of native forbs meant to attract bees and other beneficial insects.
What's a forb? A forb is a broad-leaved herb (as opposed to grass) that commonly grows in a field, prairie, or meadow or alongside farmland.
What's the best mix of native forbs?
Native pollinator specialist Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, and research associate Kimiora Ward are researching which native forbs perform the best.
So far, the plants that have performed the best in their Yolo County trials are:
- Phacelia tanacetifolia,known by its common name, lacy phacelia
- Eschscholzia californica, California golden poppy, the state flower
- Lupinus densiflorus, golden lupine
- Lupinus succulentus, hollowleaf annual lupine or arroyo lupine
- Lupinus formosus, summer or western lupine
- Phacelia californica, California phacelia or rock phacelia
- Trichostema lanceolatum, vinegar weed
- Grindelia camporum, Great Valley gumplant
- Helianthus bolanderi, Bolander's sunflower
Take the lacy phacelia. You often see it planted along crop fields where it is known as a good bee plant. It attracts beneficial insects such a honey bees and syrphid flies (aka hover flies), adding a double bonus to the farmer's land. The syrphid fly is a good biological pest; in its larval stage, it gobbles aphids.
The UC Davis researchers' grant, "'Development and Validation of Protocols for Assessing Functioning of Pollinator Habitat Plantings for Agricultural Settings," is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is aimed at improving pollinator habitat plantings.
This research should prove invaluable.
As Williams said: "Recent declines in honey bee populations and the threat of losses in pollination service to economically important crops has raised awareness of the importance of restoring and conserving native bee diversity and abundance."
- Author: Shannon C. Mueller
To learn more about swarms and what to do if a swarm moves into your yard or neighborhood, click this link - Bee Swarm - to view a seven-minute narrated PowerPoint.
If you would like additional information, read Removing Swarms and Established Colonies from Private Property written by Eric C Mussen, Extension Apiculturist at UC Davis.
I hope you find this information helpful. Don’t hesitate to contact me at scmueller@ucanr.edu if you need additional information.
- Author: John Stumbos
A pair of leading UC Davis experts will provide a rare glimpse into efforts to protect California biodiversity at a public lecture May 10, 4–6 p.m., in the UC Davis Conference Center.
Their work is featured in the current issue of “CA&ES Outlook,” the magazine of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The magazine also examines the work of other UC Davis scientists and students working to conserve biodiversity in California.
The event concludes with a reception and an opportunity to visit with Thompson, Grosholz, CA&ES dean Neal Van Alfen, and other participants. The cost is $15 per person. To register, go to https://registration.ucdavis.edu.
For additional information about this event, please contact Carrie Cloud at (530) 204-7500 or crcloud@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
A key issue with biofuel production has been the need for inexpensive feedstocks that do not compete with agricultural land use or food production.
To develop low-impact feedstock suitable for underutilized land, the company is partnering with Stephen Kaffka, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis.
Kaffka plans to study the viability of oilseed crops for biofuel in test plots at UC Davis and in Salinas, the Imperial Valley and Five Points in the Central Valley. To test the feedstock for commercial farming use, Kaffka will plant the crops at John Diener's 5,400-acre Red Rock Ranch in the Central Valley, which produces 40 conventional and organic crops.
“I will do the agronomic work on new oilseed crops for my part of the grant, but there are a large number of other activities in the grant as well,” Kaffka said. “My goal is to be of service in support of emerging bioenergy groups in California.”
“We are very pleased with the work Dr. Kaffka has been doing, and look forward to working with him to develop the potential for new bioenergy crops in California,” said Russell Teall, president and founder of Biodico, the parent company of Biodiesel Industries of Ventura.
