Do forests cool the Earth?

Id:UA_23829

University of Antwerp

The overall goal of DOFOCO is to quantify and understand the role of forest management in mitigating climate change. Specifically, we want to challenge the current focus on the carbon cycle and replace it with a total climate impact approach. Hence, the whole forest management spectrum ranging from short rotation coppice to old-growth forests will be analyzed for its effects on the water, energy and carbon cycles. Climate response of forest will be quantified by means of albedo, evapotranspiration, greenhouse gas sources and sinks and their resulting climate feedback mechanisms. DOFOCO will deliver the first quantitative insights into how forest management strategies can be linked to climate change mitigation. These results will be used to lay the foundations for a portfolio of management strategies which sustain wood production while minimizing climate change impacts.

Timeframe:

1 Jan 2010 → 31 Dec 2013

Keywords:

FOREST ECOSYSTEMS,CLIMATE CHANGING,GLOBAL WARMING

Discipline codes:

• BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES (B)
  • Ecology
    • Plant ecology
• PHYSICAL SCIENCES (P)
  • Earth sciences, geophysics
    • Atmosphere physics, meteorology, climatology, aerology

Classifications:

• Inter university project