Abstract
AbstractThis article evaluates the suitability of the ECOSSE model to estimate soil greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes from short rotation coppice willow (SRC‐Willow), short rotation forestry (SRF‐Scots Pine) and Miscanthus after land‐use change from conventional systems (grassland and arable). We simulate heterotrophic respiration (Rh), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) fluxes at four paired sites in the UK and compare them to estimates of Rh derived from the ecosystem respiration estimated from eddy covariance (EC) and Rh estimated from chamber (IRGA) measurements, as well as direct measurements of N2O and CH4 fluxes. Significant association between modelled and EC‐derived Rh was found under Miscanthus, with correlation coefficient (r) ranging between 0.54 and 0.70. Association between IRGA‐derived Rh and modelled outputs was statistically significant at the Aberystwyth site (r = 0.64), but not significant at the Lincolnshire site (r = 0.29). At all SRC‐Willow sites, significant association was found between modelled and measurement‐derived Rh (0.44 ≤ r ≤ 0.77); significant error was found only for the EC‐derived Rh at the Lincolnshire site. Significant association and no significant error were also found for SRF‐Scots Pine and perennial grass. For the arable fields, the modelled CO2 correlated well just with the IRGA‐derived Rh at one site (r = 0.75). No bias in the model was found at any site, regardless of the measurement type used for the model evaluation. Across all land uses, fluxes of CH4 and N2O were shown to represent a small proportion of the total GHG balance; these fluxes have been modelled adequately on a monthly time‐step. This study provides confidence in using ECOSSE for predicting the impacts of future land use on GHG balance, at site level as well as at national level.
Highlights
This article evaluates the suitability of the ECOSSE model to estimate soil greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes from short rotation coppice willow (SRC-Willow), short rotation forestry (SRF-Scots Pine) and Miscanthus after landuse change from conventional systems
The ECOSSE model includes five pools of soil organic matter, each decomposing with a specific rate constant except for the inert organic matter (IOM) which is not affected by decomposition
The ECOSSE model was evaluated by comparing the outputs to the eddy covariance (EC)-derived and infrared gas analyser (IRGA)-derived Rh fluxes from eleven fields over four sites, representing the Arable Koerber et al (2010)
Summary
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of bioenergy had previously been assumed to be zero (Gustavsson et al, 1995; UK, 2008) on the assumption that emissions during combustion are balanced by the carbon (C) uptake during the growth of these bioenergy plantations, but this fails to take account of GHG emissions following LUC and subsequent crop growth. To this end, it is important to assess the GHG balance of bioenergy crops, during the first years after conversion. As photosynthesis only occurs during daylight hours, the night time flux is typically used to partition the NEE signal between GPP and Reco. In a plant removal experiment (Hardie et al, 2009), the total Rh from the whole soil profile was found to be approximately between 46 and 59% of the total Reco. Abdalla et al (2014) used these values to simulate Rh from selected European peatland sites using a soil process-based model, ECOSSE
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