Influence of soil moisture on isoprene emissions from a northern mixed hardwood forest

Undergraduate Research Exper.The objective of this study was to identify a relationship between soil moisture and isoprene emissions and treat the variables in a manner that could be compared with the Model of Emissions for Gases and Aerosols in Nature model’s (MEGAN) treatment of changes in soil moisture as a factor affecting emissions of isoprene. Soil moisture data and isoprene flux measurements from a northern mixed hardwood forest in northern Michigan were studied for the 2000-2005 growing seasons. The two variables were examined using the parameters from the MEGAN model where soil moisture emission activity factors, calculated from observed soil moisture measurement data, were compared to observed isoprene fluxes normalized for photosynthetic photon flux density, temperature, and light. Variability in the trends was observed between the individual years showing positive, negative and no relationships. The results demonstrate that there is no relationship between soil moisture and isoprene emissions.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57726/1/Trac_Christine_2007.pd

Is the Returning Farmland to Forest Program a Success? Three case studies from Sichuan

China\u27s tuigeng huanlin or “Returning Farmland to Forest” (RFFP) program has been widely praised as the world\u27s largest and most successful payment for ecosystem services program, as well as a major contributor to China\u27s dramatic increase in forest cover from perhaps as low as 8% in 1960 to about 21% today. By compensating rural households for the conversion of marginal farmland to forestland and financing the afforestation of barren mountainsides, the program, in addition to expanding forestland, aims to reduce soil erosion and alleviate poverty. This paper presents qualitative and quantitative studies conducted on the local implementation of RFFP in three diverse townships in Sichuan. We find the actual results to be more mixed than the official figures would indicate. Though there have been some positive results, we identify problems with site and species selection, compensation for land taken out of cultivation, shift of labor to off-farm activities, and monitoring of replanted sites, which challenge the ecological and economic impacts of these programs and reveal much of the effort of the program has been misdirected. We suggest that efforts are misplaced because of the top-down, panacea nature of the program, which in turn is a feature of Chinese bureaucratic management

Reforestation Programs in Southwest China: Reported Success, Observed Failure, and the Reasons Why

Ever since the disastrous floods of 1998, the Chinese government has used the Natural Forest Protection and Sloping Land Conversion Programs to promote afforestation and reforestation as means to reduce runoff, control erosion, and stabilize local livelihoods. These two ambitious programs have been reported as large-scale successes, contributing to an overall increase in China’s forest cover and to the stated goals of environmental stabilization. A small-scale field study at the project level of the implementation of these two programs in Baiwu Township, Yanyuan County, Sichuan, casts doubt upon the accuracy and reliability of these claims of success; ground observations revealed utter failure in some sites and only marginal success in others. Reasons for this discrepancy are posited as involving ecological, economic, and bureaucratic factors. Further research is suggested to determine whether these discrepancies are merely local aberrations or represent larger-scale failures in reforestation programs