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Science 23 November 2001:
Vol. 294. no. 5547, pp. 1688 - 1691
DOI: 10.1126/science.1062962
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Reports

Factors Controlling Long- and Short-Term Sequestration of Atmospheric CO2 in a Mid-latitude Forest

Carol C. Barford,1* Steven C. Wofsy,1dagger Michael L. Goulden,2 J. William Munger,1 Elizabeth Hammond Pyle,1 Shawn P. Urbanski,1 Lucy Hutyra,1 Scott R. Saleska,1 David Fitzjarrald,3 Kathleen Moore3

Net uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) measured by eddy covariance in a 60- to 80-year-old forest averaged 2.0 ± 0.4 megagrams of carbon per hectare per year during 1993 to 2000, with interannual variations exceeding 50%. Biometry indicated storage of 1.6 ± 0.4 megagrams of carbon per hectare per year over 8 years, 60% in live biomass and the balance in coarse woody debris and soils, confirming eddy-covariance results. Weather and seasonal climate (e.g., variations in growing-season length or cloudiness) regulated seasonal and interannual fluctuations of carbon uptake. Legacies of prior disturbance and management, especially stand age and composition, controlled carbon uptake on the decadal time scale, implying that eastern forests could be managed for sequestration of carbon.

1 Division of Engineering and Applied Science and Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
2 Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
3 Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12203, USA.
*   Present address: Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment, Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA.

dagger    To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: steven_wofsy{at}harvard.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)