A major contributor to global warming is the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. Land use management may be a means to countering global warming by
increasing the carbon sink potential. Terrestrial carbon budgets were prepared for forested
(Douglas-fir), agricultural (hay), and urban sites in Abbotsford, B.C. The results indicate that
the greatest amount of carbon is stored in the forested sites, followed by the hay sites, with the
lowest amount in the urban sites. To maximize carbon in storage the use of trees either as
forests or in pockets within the landscape is the best option.
To simulate and to expand the utility of these carbon budgets, the study used the
CENTURY model. The results of the simulations indicate that forests are a major carbon sink
as was found earlier. Carbon storage under hay is at a relative steady state, except during the
cultivation years when it becomes a carbon source. Lawn in an urban setting is a carbon
source. The results of the simulations suggest that management can be used to increase the
carbon sink. It also indicates that soils are a major carbon pool representing 20% of the forest,
90% of the hay, and 95% of the lawn budgets.
For the general public and decision-makers to become more aware of the impact of
changing land use on carbon storage, at the lot, local, or regional levels, they require a userfriendly
decision-making tool. A derivative of the CENTURY model, CLU (for CENTURY
Land Use), was developed. It was designed to be user-friendly and at the same time maintain
the integrity of the parent model. It allows the user to input site-specific data and obtain site
related output carbon data on a component basis, which can be used to assess how a potential
change in land use or management may affect the amount of carbon in storage. The model
should be suitable as a research tool and for planning and educational purposes. / Science, Faculty of / Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/11332 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Ames, Susan Eveline |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 26822107 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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