VCU Receives Grant to Further Examine the Role of Forests in Regulating Greenhouse Gases

By Sathya Achia Abraham and Matt Miller

Virginia Commonwealth University, Ohio State University and the University of Michigan have received a grant totaling more than $1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to extend their study of how much heat-trapping carbon dioxide forests of the upper Midwest remove from the air. Results from the investigation may help scientists forecast atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and, consequently, global climate in coming years.

The funding will extend the multi-institutional collaboration already under way between VCU, Ohio State and Michigan through 2014. VCU began its partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy in 2009.

In this study, researchers use towers equipped with special sensors to measure the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by forests. Similar towers are distributed across six continents allowing scientists to compare carbon dioxide absorption by different forests. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas linked to climate change.   

“Over the past two decades the global network of research towers has demonstrated that existing forests perform an important environmental service by removing a large fraction of our carbon dioxide emissions,” said Christopher M. Gough Ph.D., principal investigator for the study component at VCU, and research assistant professor in the VCU Department of Biology.

“In this new phase of our research, we are filling a critical knowledge gap by conducting novel experiments that focus on the future capacity, rather than just present ability, of forests to take up carbon dioxide — which will provide new data for strengthening predictions of future climate as forests change in coming decades,” said Gough, who is part of a global network of scientists evaluating the potential of forests to offset climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel consumption.

Over time, forests undergo significant changes both in their structure and in the types of trees present in the canopy. Scientists believe these changes could impact carbon dioxide uptake. Therefore, Gough and his colleagues are particularly interested in understanding how much carbon dioxide could be absorbed by forests in the future.

“We hope that our results will improve science-based decision-making tools used to manage forests for carbon dioxide absorption,” said Gough. “Calculating how much carbon dioxide future forests will remove from the air is important to improving predictions of future global climate.”

Gough said the research grant provides expanded opportunities for VCU graduate students to generate new knowledge useful to forest managers and policy makers.

For more information about this research visit http://umbs.lsa.umich.edu/research/projects/forest-accelerated-succession-experiment-faset.htm.