Topic C2. Carbon stocks assessment
in tropical peat swamp forests
J Boone Kauffman and Mathew Warren
Topic C2. Slide 2 of 27
Contents
 Introduction
 C stocks assessment scheme
• General layout
• Aboveground biomass
• Belowground biomass
• Dead wood and litter sampling
• Soil sampling
 Long-term monitoring
Topic C2. Slide 3 of 27
Why do we care about peatlands?
 Peatlands cover 3% of the earth’s land area but contain about 30% of
the planet’s soil carbon (C) and about 20% of the earth’s terrestrial fixed
C
 Ecosystem C pools of tropical peat forests are among the largest
terrestrial C pools on earth; some sites exceed 2000 tC/ha
 Disturbances from land-use change and climate change in these unique
ecosystems results in exceptionally high GHG emissions
 These unique ecosystems provide services, such as:
•
biological diversity;
•
maintenance of water quality and timing;
•
forest and non-timber forest products;
•
aesthetic and ecotourism values;
•
carbon sinks (important for climate mitigation strategies).
Topic C2. Slide 4 of 27
Forest carbon stocks
Sources: IPCC (2001); Donato et al. (2011)
Topic C2. Slide 5 of 27
Threats to tropical peat swamp forests:
Deforestation, drainage and fire from land-use and land-use change
Topic C2. Slide 6 of 27
Carbon stocks assessment scheme
Tropical peat forest ecosystem
Aboveground pools
Trees >1.3m ht
Dead
Palms
Live by species
>100 cm dbh
50-100 cm
dbh
30-50cm dbh
10-30 cm dbh
0-10 cm dbh
Shrubs
Seedlings
Herbs
Litter
pneumatophores
Belowground pools
Downed wood
Roots
Peat soil
0-10cm depth
0.67cm diam
0.67-2.54 cm diam.
2.54-7.6 cm diam.
>7.6cm diam
sound
rotten
10-30 cm
30-50 cm
50-100cm
100-200
cm
300-500cm
>500cm
Topic C2. Slide 7 of 27
General plot layout
General plot layout to quantify ecosystem C pools in tropical peat forests
Trees >5 cm
dbh measured
in 10 m radius
(all plots)
Wood debris
transects
(4 per plot, all
plots)
D
Trees <5 cm
dbh measured
in 2 m radius
(all plots)
A
R= 2m
Peat forest ecotone
C
Plot: 1
Understory/litt
er sample
(2 per plot, all
3
plots)
2
50m
B
50 m
3 soil depth
measurements
and 1 nutrient
core (all plots)
4
5
6
Topic C2. Slide 8 of 27
Trees
Topic C2. Slide 9 of 27
The circular plots
Trees >5 cm dbh
measured in 10 m
radius (all plots)
2m
Trees <5 cm dbh
measured in 2 m
radius nested plots
Topic C2. Slide 10 of 27
Tree diameter
a. Normal tree: DBH is
measured at 1.3 m from
the surface ground
d. Abnormal tree: if 1.3 meter
exactly at the abnormal
trunk (swollen), DBH is
measured at the immediate
normal part, above or below
depends on which one is the
closest.
g. Tree with supporting
root: DBH is measured
1.3 meter above the
root
b. Oblique
tree:
DBH
is
measured at 1.3 m from
closest surface ground, or
parallel with the tilt of the
tree.
e. Branches tree: if 1.3 m
exactly at the beginning of
the branch, DBH is measured
below the V part that is
normal.
c. Normal tree of slope
land: DBH is measured
at 1.3 meter from the
highest surface ground
f. Branches tree: if 1.3
meter above the V part,
DBH is measured at 2
trunks and considered
as 2 trees.
h. Buttress tree: DBH is measured 20 cm above the
buttress.
Topic C2. Slide 11 of 27
Tree biomass - allometric equations,
AGB= ρ × exp(-1.239 + 1.98ln(D) + 0.207(ln(D))2 -0.0281(ln(D))3)
Source: Chave et al. (2005)
Topic C2. Slide 12 of 27
Belowground biomass
Following Cairns et al. (1997):
Root : shoot ratio for tropical forests biomass:
mean = 0.26; median = 0.21,
LQ = 0.14, UQ = 0.31
Root biomass density for tropical forest biomass:
RBD = exp (-1.085+0.9256 (lnAGB));
where AGB is aboveground biomass (Mg/ha).
Multiply belowground biomass by 0.39 to
convert to belowground C stock.
Note: since the C fraction of belowground biomass is different
from aboveground biomass, the simple root : shoot ratio cannot
be applied to estimate belowground C directly.
Topic C2. Slide 13 of 27
Belowground carbon
Belowground C can be calculated directly using
the equation:
BGC=AGC × 0.216
Where:
BGC=belowground C
AGC=aboveground C,
0.216 is the ratio of BGC to AGC
(Calculated from Cairns et al. (1997)
default root:shoot of 0.26,
default %C AGB=0.47 and default %C
BGB=0.39)
Topic C2. Slide 14 of 27
Dead trees
For Status 1 and 2 trees,
biomass lost from leaves
(2.5%) or branches+leaves (15–
18%) is subtracted from the
total tree biomass estimated
using an allometric equation.
Status 3 dead tree biomass and
C are estimated using
appropriate volumetric
formulas (i.e. cylinder or
frustrum of a cone) multiplied
by wood density and C
fraction.
Live
Status 1
Status 2
Status 3
Topic C2. Slide 15 of 27
Dead wood
Topic C2. Slide 16 of 27
Planar intercept
Suggestions for wood debris
•
•
•
•
Measure only wood categories
>7.6 cm diameter (2–14 m on tape)
2.5–7.6 diameter for 5 m (9–14 m)
Small wood (<2.5 cm in litter plot)
0m
2m
9m
Pieces
2.5–7.6 cm
measured here
Pieces >7.6 cm measured here
14 m
Topic C2. Slide 17 of 27
Dead or downed wood
Equation to determine volume of fine, small and medium wood size classes:
Volume (m3 ha-1) = π2 × (Ni * QMDi2 / 8 * L)
Where
Ni = the count of intersecting woody debris pieces in size class i ;
QMDi = the quadratic mean diameter of size class i (cm):
QMD =
L=transect length (m)
Equation for calculating the volume of large (>7.6 cm diam.) downed wood:
Volume (m3ha-1) = π2 × (d12 + d22 + d32 + …..dn2/ 8 * L)
Where d1, ..dn, = diameters of intersecting pieces of large deadwood (cm).
L = the length of the transect line for large size class (m).
Woody debris mass is calculated as the volume multiplied by its mean specific
gravity and converted to Mg ha-1. Generally there will be specific gravity
measurements for “sound” and “rotten” decay classes. Dead wood mass is
multiplied by its C fraction to determine C stock.
Topic C2. Slide 18 of 27
Litter
Three values are needed: Fresh weight of the
litter sample (FW), Fresh weight of a litter
subsample (FWs) and Dry weight of the litter
subsample (Dws). A moisture correction factor
(M) is calculated based on the H2O (g) lost from
the dried litter subsample:
(Dws/FwsxFW=DW). C stock is estimated as Clitter
= DW × 0.45 . Litter C stock must then be scaled
to the standard unit Mg/ha by converting the
area of the sampling frame to ha, and the weight
of the sample to Mg. For example, a 250g dry
litter sample from a 0.25m2 (50cm × 50cm
sampling frame) would scale to 10Mg/ha.
Topic C2. Slide 19 of 27
Litter sampling in 2 microplots
• Two 50 x 50 cm micro-plots per subplot
• Includes identifiable organic materials e.g. leaves, twigs, wood/bark
fragments, flowers, fruits, seeds, etc.
• Usually collected 7 to 10 m away from plot center
Wood debris transects
(4 per plot, all plots)
D
A
C
B
Understory/litter sample
(2 per plot, all plots, if relevant)
Topic C2. Slide 20 of 27
Soil
0–15 cm depth
15–30 cm
30–50 cm
50–100 cm
100–300 cm
>300 cm
Topic C2. Slide 21 of 27
Soil sampling
Soil depth are the Δ’s. The soil core is
collected in an undisturbed place near
the plot center.
•
•
•
•
•
3 soil depth measurements and 1 nutrient core (all plots)
Shallow peats (<2 m) sample soil beneath peat; be sure to mark the peat depth
Carefully label cans and collect samples
Samples for bulk density/carbon concentration should be at least 50 g – about 5
cm in depth
Samples should be collected at the mid point of the sample depth (e.g. 7.5 cm,
22.5 cm, 40 cm, 75 cm, 200 cm)
Topic C2. Slide 22 of 27
Soil Use an auger or sampling device
designed to sample organic soils (Russian
style or peat augers)
A
B
C
D
A: Measuring and cutting the sample from the core at the appropriate location. B:
Carefully collecting the sample in a labeled aluminum tin. C: Collected 5 cm sample.
D: Sample and tin are wrapped in aluminum foil and sealed in a labeled plastic bag.
Topic C2. Slide 23 of 27
Soils are dried at 60oC in the lab
Important parameters: Soil Bulk Density (g cm-3), %
Organic C content, Depth of peat layer
Organic soil C stocks are estimated by calculating the C
density (Cd) of soil samples (Cd = Bulk Density × %C)
and scaling up to Mg/ha. Multiply the Cd of each soil
sample by the volume of soil it represents per ha.
For example, consider a soil sample from the 0–15cm
increment, with BD=160 kg/m3 and %C=48. Cd = 76.8
kg C/m3. Total soil volume per surface m2 for this layer
is 1m × 1m × 0.15m = 0.15m3, so 76.8 × 0.15 kg
C/m3 = 11.5 kg C per m2 for the 0–15cm depth
increment. Scaled up, the C stock of this layer is 115
Mg/ha.
Sum the C stock from each soil layer to calculate the
total soil C pool in Mg/ha.
Topic C2. Slide 24 of 27
Other aspects for long-term
monitoring
 GPS coordinates are critical
 Tree heights
 Hard to accurately and rapidly measure
 To facilitate future monitoring via remote sensing
tools (e.g. LIDAR, etc.)
 So that diameter-height regressions can be built for
all trees
 Canopy cover
 Using a densiometer
 Purpose: To monitor forest canopy cover and to
intersect with remote sensing data
 Photo documentation
 Systematic photopoints at center of each plot
 Reporting purposes, visualization
Topic C2. Slide 25 of 27
References
Chave J, Réjou-Méchain M, Búrquez A, Chidumayo E, Colgan MS, Delitti WB, Duque A, Eid T, Fearnside PM,
Goodman RC, et al. 2014. Improved allometric models to estimate the aboveground biomass of tropical
trees. Global Change Biology.
Donato DC, Kauffman JB, Murdiyarso D, Kurnianto S, Stidham M, and Kanninen M. 2011. Mangroves among the
most carbon-rich forests in the tropics. Nature Geosciences 4:293–297. doi: 10.1038/NGEO1123.
Howard J, Hoyt, S, Isensee K, Telszewski M, Pidgeon E (eds.). 2014. Coastal Blue Carbon: Methods for assessing
carbon stocks and emissions factors in mangroves, tidal salt marshes,and seagrasses. Arlington, Virginia,
USA: Conservation International, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, International
Union for Conservation of Nature.
[IPCC] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2003. Good practice guidance for land use, land-use change,
and forestry. Penman J, Gytarsky M, Hiraishi T, Krug Thelma, Kruger D, Pipatti R, Buendia L, Miwa K, Ngara
T, Tanabe K, et al, eds. Japan: Institute for Global Environmental Strategies.
Topic C2. Slide 26 of 27
References
Kauffman JB, Arifanti VB, Basuki,I, Kurnianto S, Novita N, Murdiyarso D, Donato D, Warren MW (2015). Protocols
for the Measurement, Monitoring, & Reporting of Structure, Biomass and Carbon Stocks in Tropical Peat
Swamp Forest. CIFOR Working paper (In preparation).
Kauffman JB and Donato DC. 2012. Protocols for the Measurement, Monitoring, & Reporting of Structure,
Biomass and Carbon Stocks in Mangrove Forests. Working Paper 86. Bogor: Center for International Forest
Research.
Manuri S, Brack C, Nugroho NP, Hergoualc’h K, Novita N, Dotzauer H, Verchot L, Agung C, Putra S, and Widyasari
E. 2014. Tree biomass equations for tropical peat swamp forest ecosystems in Indonesia. Forest Ecology
and Management 334(2014):241–253.
[UNEP] United Nations Environment Programme. 2014. The Importance of Mangroves to People: A Call to
Action. van Bochove J, Sullivan E, Nakamura T, eds. Cambridge: United Nations Environment Programme
World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge.
Warren MW, Kauffman JB, Murdiyarso, D. Anshari G, Hergoulac’h K, Kurnianto S, Purbopuspito J, Gusmayanti E,
Afifudin M, Rahajoe J, et al. 2012. A cost-efficient method to assess carbon stocks in tropical peat soil.
Biogeosciences Discuss 9:7049-7071. www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/9/7049/2012/. doi:10.5194/bgd-97049-2012.
Thank you
The Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Program (SWAMP) is a collaborative effort by CIFOR, the USDA Forest Service, and the
Oregon State University with support from USAID.
How to cite this file
Murdiyarso M and Kauffman B. 2015. Carbon stocks assessment in tropical peat swamp forest [PowerPoint presentation]. In: SWAMP
toolbox: Theme C section C2 Retrieved from <www.cifor.org/swamp-toolbox>
Photo credit
Boone Kauffman/Oregon State University, Daniel Murdiyarso/CIFOR, Matt Warren/USFS, Neil Palmer/CIAT.