ASSESSMENT OF WOOD BIOMASS AND CARBON STOCK AND EVALUATION OF MACHINERY CHAINS PERFORMANCES IN ALPINE FORESTRY CONDITIONS: AN INNOVATIVE MODELLING APPROACH
Tesi di Dottorato
Data di Pubblicazione:
2021
Citazione:
ASSESSMENT OF WOOD BIOMASS AND CARBON STOCK AND EVALUATION OF MACHINERY CHAINS PERFORMANCES IN ALPINE FORESTRY CONDITIONS: AN INNOVATIVE MODELLING APPROACH / L. Nonini ; Tutor: M. Fiala ; Coordinatore: D. Bassi. Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali - Produzione, Territorio, Agroenergia, 2021 Jun 11. 33. ciclo, Anno Accademico 2020.
Abstract:
The PhD Thesis focuses on two topics: (i) assessment of forest wood and carbon (C) stock and (ii) forestry mechanization applicable at the forest stand level for any given conditions among those found in the Italian Alpine and pre-Alpine mountainous areas. Both these topics aim to improve the use of forestry resources for climate change mitigation, starting from a bottom-up approach scaled on the information made available by Forest Management Plans (FMP).
After an introduction on the topics given in chapter 1, the first topic (assessment of forest wood and C stock) is investigated in chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5, by taking the Valle Camonica District (Lombardy Region, Italy) as Case Study Area. The aim is to develop a stand-level model to estimate the mass of wood (t·yr-1 dry matter, DM) and C (t·yr-1 C) in aboveground wood biomass, belowground wood biomass and dead organic matter (i.e., deadwood and litter), quantifying, at the same time, the mass of potentially available logging residues (i.e., branches and tops; t·yr-1 DM) for energy generation and the corresponding potentially generated energy (GJ·yr-1), under the assumption that wood replaces non-renewable energy sources.
Chapter 2 presents the first version of the model, called “WOody biomass and Carbon ASsessment” (WOCAS v1), aimed at the quantification of the mass of wood and C in the forest pools in a predefined reference year, by using a methodology already applied at the regional and national level. The model was tested on a dataset of 2019 public forest stands extracted from 45 FMPs (area: 37000 ha) covering the period from 1984 (year in which the oldest FMP came into force) to 2016 (most recent available data from the local FMPs). Preliminary results showed that, in 2016, the total C stock (given by the sum of C stock in aboveground wood biomass, belowground wood biomass, and dead organic matter) achieved 76.02 t·ha-1 C. The model also gives the possibility to analyze future scenarios based on the continuation of the current management practices rather than improved practices, to define a possible mitigation strategy for the activation of a local Voluntary Carbon Market.
WOCAS v1 was implemented into a second version (WOCAS v2), by introducing, first of all, an improved methodology to calculate the mass of wood (t·yr-1 DM) and C (t·yr-1 C) within the forest pools from the year in which the FMPs entry into force until a predefined reference year (chapter 3). The main innovative aspect of the improved methodology is that the gross annual increment of each stand is calculated through an age-independent theoretical non-linear growth function based on the merchantable stem mass, solving the limitation of WOCAS v1 in which the gross annual increment of the stand is assumed as constant, as reported by the FMPs. This improved methodology was applied to the same dataset used for WOCAS 1 (i.e., 2019 forest stands, 45 FMPs; forest area: 37000 ha; period: 1984-2016). The total weighted average wood yield, calculated as the sum of wood yield in all the above-mentioned forest pools, ranged from 53.36±53.13 t∙ha-1∙yr-1 DM (1984) to 156.38±79.76 t∙ha-1∙yr-1 DM (2016). The total weighted average C yield ranged from 26.63±26.80 t∙ha-1∙yr-1 C (1984) to 77.45±40.19 t∙ha-1∙yr-1 C (2016). The average C yield related to the whole analyzed period (1984-2016) was 66.04 t∙ha-1 C. Of this, C yield in the aboveground wood biomass, belowground wood biomass and dead organic matter was equal to 72.0%, 15.8% and 12.2%, respectively.
Validation of the results at the stand level was performed by comparing the value of the gross annual increment provided by the FMPs with the one predicted by WOCAS v2. The model caused, in some cases, an overestimation and, in other cases
Tipologia IRIS:
Tesi di dottorato
Keywords:
carbon stock; climate change mitigation; empirical models; forest management plan; forestry machinery chain; forestry operations; logging residues; site-specific primary data; wood biomass
Elenco autori:
L. Nonini
Link alla scheda completa: