How climate change affects carbon storage in Mediterranean pine forests

Reforestation is widely promoted as a way to mitigate climate change by capturing carbon from the atmosphere. However, its real success depends on how trees invest (allocate) the carbon they capture, that is, how much they invest to grow leaves, stems or roots, particularly under warmer and drier conditions. In this study, we analysed how climate affects carbon allocation in large-scale pine reforestations across the … Continue reading How climate change affects carbon storage in Mediterranean pine forests

Rewilding boosts Carbon Storage: How trees channel more Carbon into their roots

Author Nancy Burrell highlights the importance of accurate carbon accounting and describes her team’s latest research into the accuracy of current methods for measuring carbon in scrublands. Traditional methods like the i-Tree Eco model, effective in urban and forestry settings for estimating carbon storage in trees, are based on the growth patterns of plantation trees (trees grown in herbivore-free landscapes). But how does browsing at … Continue reading Rewilding boosts Carbon Storage: How trees channel more Carbon into their roots

ECR Journeys: A socio-cultural expedition into environmental governance

This month, The Applied Ecologist is amplifying the voice of early career ecologists from around the world working in the field of applied ecology to help inspire the next generation. In this post, Wayne Stanley Rice from the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore shares his story below. How would you describe yourself? I love the outdoors and travel, reading, and cooking. … Continue reading ECR Journeys: A socio-cultural expedition into environmental governance

Natural recruitment should be a key goal of tree planting projects

Anna Gee, a PhD student at Imperial College London, talks us through ways in which we can help to restore forests through natural recruitment in this standalone piece. How do we decide what trees to plant for forest restoration? The approach of many restoration projects is to find what is known as a reference forest, a forest that has not been disturbed much by humans, … Continue reading Natural recruitment should be a key goal of tree planting projects

Where and how do we manage for carbon in forestry in a changing world?

Lilli Kaarakka shares findings from her team’s review article assessing the evidence for the potential of specific improved forest management (IFM) practices to sequester carbon and enhance carbon storage in forests. Humans and forests share an infinite, intertwined history; forests have provided us with food, fuel and material for building homes, as well as a place of refuge and spirituality. In the most recent part … Continue reading Where and how do we manage for carbon in forestry in a changing world?

Issue 55:5

Read the highlights from our September issue. Value of information: when to learn and when to manage in conservation This issue’s Editor’s Choice article Better many small than a few large: how landscape configuration affects arthropod communities in rice Can splitting agricultural ecosystems help reduce yield losses for rice farmers? Mejor muchos pequeños que pocos grandes: sobre como la configuración del paisaje afecta las comunidades … Continue reading Issue 55:5

Crop functional traits can help to predict the effects of organic farming on soil carbon sequestration

Focusing on functional traits of crop residues and their connection to soil carbon storage, Pablo Garcia Palacios comments on recent article, Crop traits drive soil carbon sequestration under organic farming. Soil organic carbon is a major agricultural resource for two different reasons. First, it is a measurable component of soil organic matter, which has a key influence on the capacity of soils to retain moisture and … Continue reading Crop functional traits can help to predict the effects of organic farming on soil carbon sequestration