Old-growth forests, carbon and climate change: Functions and management for tall open-forests in two hotspots of temperate Australia
The prognosis and utility under climate change are presented for two old-growth, temperate forests in Australia, from ecological and carbon accounting perspectives. The tall open-forests (TOFs) of south-western Australia (SWA) are within Australia’s global biodiversity hotspot. The forest management...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Taylor and Francis
2010
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28785 |
| _version_ | 1848752629261271040 |
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| author | Dean, C Wardell-Johnson, Grant |
| author_facet | Dean, C Wardell-Johnson, Grant |
| author_sort | Dean, C |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The prognosis and utility under climate change are presented for two old-growth, temperate forests in Australia, from ecological and carbon accounting perspectives. The tall open-forests (TOFs) of south-western Australia (SWA) are within Australia’s global biodiversity hotspot. The forest management and timber usage from the carbon-dense old-growth TOFs of Tasmania (TAS) have a high carbon efflux, rendering it a carbon hotspot. Under climate change the warmer, dryer climate in both areas will decrease carbon stocks directly; and indirectly through changes towards dryer forest types and through positive feedback. Near 2100, climate change will decrease soil organic carbon (SOC) significantly, e.g. by ~30% for SWA and at least 2% for TAS. The emissions from the next 20 years of logging old-growth TOF in TAS, and conversion to harvesting cycles, will conservatively reach 66(±33) Mt-CO2-equivalents in the long-term – bolstering greenhouse gas emissions. Similar emissions will arise from rainforest SOC in TAS due to climate change. Careful management of old-growth TOFs in these two hotspots, to help reduce carbon emissions and change in biodiversity, entails adopting approaches to forest, wood product and fire management which conserve old-growth characteristics in forest stands. Plantation forestry on long-cleared land and well-targeted prescribed burning supplement effective carbon management. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:11:39Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-28785 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:11:39Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | Taylor and Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-287852017-09-13T15:16:04Z Old-growth forests, carbon and climate change: Functions and management for tall open-forests in two hotspots of temperate Australia Dean, C Wardell-Johnson, Grant The prognosis and utility under climate change are presented for two old-growth, temperate forests in Australia, from ecological and carbon accounting perspectives. The tall open-forests (TOFs) of south-western Australia (SWA) are within Australia’s global biodiversity hotspot. The forest management and timber usage from the carbon-dense old-growth TOFs of Tasmania (TAS) have a high carbon efflux, rendering it a carbon hotspot. Under climate change the warmer, dryer climate in both areas will decrease carbon stocks directly; and indirectly through changes towards dryer forest types and through positive feedback. Near 2100, climate change will decrease soil organic carbon (SOC) significantly, e.g. by ~30% for SWA and at least 2% for TAS. The emissions from the next 20 years of logging old-growth TOF in TAS, and conversion to harvesting cycles, will conservatively reach 66(±33) Mt-CO2-equivalents in the long-term – bolstering greenhouse gas emissions. Similar emissions will arise from rainforest SOC in TAS due to climate change. Careful management of old-growth TOFs in these two hotspots, to help reduce carbon emissions and change in biodiversity, entails adopting approaches to forest, wood product and fire management which conserve old-growth characteristics in forest stands. Plantation forestry on long-cleared land and well-targeted prescribed burning supplement effective carbon management. 2010 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28785 10.1080/11263500903560751 Taylor and Francis restricted |
| spellingShingle | Dean, C Wardell-Johnson, Grant Old-growth forests, carbon and climate change: Functions and management for tall open-forests in two hotspots of temperate Australia |
| title | Old-growth forests, carbon and climate change: Functions and management for tall open-forests in two hotspots of temperate Australia |
| title_full | Old-growth forests, carbon and climate change: Functions and management for tall open-forests in two hotspots of temperate Australia |
| title_fullStr | Old-growth forests, carbon and climate change: Functions and management for tall open-forests in two hotspots of temperate Australia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Old-growth forests, carbon and climate change: Functions and management for tall open-forests in two hotspots of temperate Australia |
| title_short | Old-growth forests, carbon and climate change: Functions and management for tall open-forests in two hotspots of temperate Australia |
| title_sort | old-growth forests, carbon and climate change: functions and management for tall open-forests in two hotspots of temperate australia |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28785 |