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Automatyczna samojezdna platforma pomiarowa do pomiarów wymiany gazów szklarniowych pomiędzy podłożem a atmosferą oraz do pomiarów charakterystyk spektralnych powierzchni
Storing Carbon in Forest Biomass and Wood Products in Poland—Energy and Climate Perspective
Huge amounts of carbon being sequestered in forest ecosystems make them an important land carbon sink at the global scale. Their ability to withdraw carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, whose concentration is gradually increasing due to anthropogenic emissions, renders them important natural climate-mitigation solutions. The urgent need for transition from high to zero net emission on country, continental, and global scales, to slow down the warming to an acceptable level, calls for the analysis of different economic sectors’ roles in reaching that ambitious goal. Here, we examine changes in CO2 emission and sequestration rates during recent decades focusing on the coal-dominated energy sector and Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) as well as wood production at the country level. The main purpose of the presented study is to examine the potential of storing carbon in standing forest biomass and wood products in Poland as well as the impact of disturbances. The ratio of LULUCF absorption of CO2 to its emission in Poland has ranged from about 1% in 1992 to over 15% in 2005. From a climate-change mitigation point of view, the main challenge is how to maximize the rate and the duration of CO2 withdrawal from the atmosphere by its storage in forest biomass and wood products. Enhancing carbon sequestration and storage in forest biomass, via sustainable and smart forestry, is considered to be a nature-based climate solution. However, not only forests but also wood-processing industries should be included as important contributors to climate-change mitigation, since harvested wood products substitute materials like concrete, metal, and plastic, which have a higher carbon footprint. The energy perspective of the paper embraces two aspects. First, CO2 sequestration in forests and subsequently in harvested wood products, is an effective strategy to offset a part of national CO2 emissions, resulting largely from fossil fuel burning for energy-production purposes. Second, wood as biomass is a renewable energy source itself, which played an important role in sustaining energy security for many individual citizens of Poland during the unusual conditions of winter 2022/2023, with a scarce coal supply.
Decoupling of economic growth and CO2 emissions in 11 European Union Member States in Central and Eastern Europe
Scots pine responses to drought investigated with eddy covariance and sap flow methods
AbstractScots pine, as one of the dominant European tree species in the temperate zone, is experiencing intensified water deficits, especially in north-western and central Poland, where it suffers from frequent droughts and generally low precipitation. This work investigates drought impact on forest functioning, by analysing ecosystem transpiration under normal as well as dry conditions. Therefore, eddy covariance (EC) and sap flow measurements (using the thermal heat balance, THB, method) were combined to estimate transpiration (T) in two different-aged Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) stands in north-western Poland: Mezyk (ME; 26 years old) and Tuczno (TU; 67 years old). Transpiration (T) estimates regarding EC measurements were derived from gross primary productivity (GPP) fluxes and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) dependence, considering their common relationship with stomatal activity. In 2019, the year following severe drought in Poland and Europe in general, total annual transpiration estimated based on sap flow measurements (TSF) was significantly lower than EC-derived transpiration (TEC) at both sites. The total ratio of TSF/TEC for the growing season (March–August) was 0.64 and 0.41 at ME and TU, respectively. We thus speculate that the understory, which was more abundant in TU than in ME, and which could only be observed by the EC system, may be responsible for the observed discrepancies. Bigger differences between TSF and TEC occurred under dry and wet conditions, while both were fairly similar under moderate conditions. The analysis of the relationships between TSF and soil water content (SWC) at depth of 10 cm revealed that there is a thresholds (SWC ~ 3.5%) at which TSF starts to decrease sharply, presumably due to stomatal closure. However, the decrease in GPP fluxes at the same time was less pronounced, indicating the impact of additional non-stomatal factor on water conductivity. We generally conclude that care should be taken if the conclusion of the occurrence of drought stress of some plants is derived from a bulk evapotranspiration flux, as it is commonly done with EC measurements averaging over the whole ecosystem. Our results also support the notion that non-stomatal water losses are an important element during extreme dry conditions, and that these may appear not only when stomata are already closed.
Impact of different reforestation techniques on carbon stocks in soil and biomass of 5-year-old Scots pine crops at the windthrow area
Partitioning seasonal stem carbon dioxide efflux into stem respiration, bark photosynthesis, and transport-related flux in Scots pine
Abstract Stem CO2 efflux is an important component of the carbon balance in forests. The efflux is considered to principally reflect the net result of two dominating and opposing processes: stem respiration and stem photosynthesis. In addition, transport of CO2 in xylem sap is thought to play an appreciable role in affecting the net flux. This work presents an approach to partition stem CO2 efflux among these processes using sap-flux data and CO2-exchange measurements from dark and transparent chambers placed on mature Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) trees. Seasonal changes and monthly parameters describing the studied processes were determined. Respiration contributed most to stem net CO2 flux, reaching up to 79% (considering the sum of the absolute values of stem respiration, stem photosynthesis, and flux from CO2 transported in xylem sap to be 100%) in June, when stem growth was greatest. The contribution of photosynthesis accounted for up to 13% of the stem net CO2 flux, increasing over the monitoring period. CO2 transported axially with sap flow decreased towards the end of the growing season. At a reference temperature, respiration decreased starting around midsummer, while its temperature sensitivity increased during the summer. A decline was observed for photosynthetic quantum yield around midsummer together with a decrease in light-saturation point. The proposed approach facilitates modeling net stem CO2 flux at a range of time scales.
A multi-year study of ecosystem production and its relation to biophysical factors over a temperate peatland
Application of Experimental Studies of Humidity and Temperature in the Time Domain to Determine the Physical Characteristics of a Perlite Concrete Partition
These days, the use of natural materials is required for sustainable and consequently plus-, zero- and low-energy construction. One of the main objectives of this research was to demonstrate that pelite concrete block masonry can be a structural and thermal insulation material. In order to determine the actual thermal insulation parameters of the building partition, in situ experimental research was carried out in real conditions, taking into account the temperature distribution at different heights of the partition. Empirical measurements were made at five designated heights of the partition with temperature and humidity parameters varying over time. The described experiment was intended to verify the technical parameters of perlite concrete in terms of its thermal insulation properties as a construction material used for vertical partitions. It was shown on the basis of the results obtained that the masonry made of perlite concrete blocks with dimensions of 24 × 24.5 × 37.5 cm laid on the mounting foam can be treated as a building element that meets both the structural and thermal insulation requirements of vertical single-layer partitions. However, it is important for the material to work in a dry environment, since, as shown, a wet perlite block has twice the thermal conductivity coefficient. The results of the measurements were confirmed, for they were known from the physics of buildings, the general principles of the formation of heat and the moisture flow in the analysed masonry of a perlite block. Illustrating this regularity is shown from the course of temperature and moisture in the walls. The proposed new building material is an alternative to walls with a layer of thermal insulation made of materials such as polystyrene or wool and fits into the concept of sustainable construction, acting against climate change, reducing building operating costs, improving living and working conditions as well as fulfilling international obligations regarding environmental goals.