Contact: Jim McLaughlin
Ontario’s managed forest area includes abundant riparian zones, where the forest, water, and atmosphere intersect and where lots of carbon is transferred. To meet various commitments to practice sustainable forestry and enhance carbon storage in forests, forestry professionals need to understand how carbon moves to and from the land, the water, and the atmosphere in these areas.
As a result, researchers are investigating how carbon is stored and released in two contrasting boreal mixedwood watersheds in northern Ontario, one with a high proportion and one with a low proportion of riparian wetlands. To do so, they are linking estimates of (a) carbon dioxide exchange at the land-atmosphere interface and the surface water-atmosphere interface and (b) water-carbon exchange rate or flux.
This research will help the Ontario government to account better for carbon stored in forested watersheds (including land, riparian zone, and water) to allow more accurate reporting as well as improve understanding of the effects of forest management on carbon.
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