Recent research projects
Research Projects
Climate change and greenhouse gas emissions in forested landscapes
2006-2009, $746,000 Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria
Summary: Control of fossil fuel emissions and manipulation of managed and natural terrestrial ecosystems provide the best options to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to manage climate change in the future. We have only a partial understanding of GHG exchange in terrestrial ecosystems, the source and sink mechanisms that produce and consume GHG must be understood if we are to better manage these ecosystems.
‘Gross primary production' or plant C uptake means any given terrestrial ecosystem is a net GHG sink, so long as plant respiration (above and below-ground), soil microbial processes and ruminant animals are not a greater emissions source for CO2 N2O and CH4 . These non-CO2 GHG are responsible for > 20% of the increase in global warming.
Land use change can take an ecosystem from a net GHG sink to a source (forest to agriculture), or from a net GHG source to a sink (agriculture to plantation/forest).
Studies of processes mechanisms in GHG production and consumption are required under Australian climate and soil condition to ensure appropriate management and policy strategies to offset industrial and domestic GHG production.
Program 1: Total greenhouse gas balance (CO2, N2O and CH4) in native and planted forests
Program 2: Carbon balance and carbon sequestration potential of native and planted forests in Victoria
Program 3: Impact of climate change on forest ecosystems
Integrative assessment of disturbance and land-use change on total greenhouse gas balance and nutrient cycling in savanna ecosystems.
2007-2010, $280,000, ARC linkage with AGO, EPA-NT, DNREA-NT
LB Hutley; J Beringer; SK Arndt; S J Livesley; GD Cook; K Butterbach-Bahl.
Summary: This project provides a comprehensive assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from tropical savannas of north Australia. Soil derived emissions of nitrous oxide and methane plus carbon sequestration will be assessed at savanna sites of contrasting land use (cleared vs uncleared, burnt vs unburnt). Emissions from soil termites will also be examined, a potentially significant but unquantified flux. Emission estimates plus data describing emissions from savanna burning will be integrated into the AGO's National Carbon Accounting System to improve model precision and calibration and provide a management tool for land managers to track emissions from tropical savannas, a biome occupying 25% of the Australian continent.
Impact of fire on the N cycle and greenhouse gas emissions in tropical savannas.
2007, $25,000, UniMelb Joint Research Project with Monash University.
Arndt, Livesley, Beringer, Hutley.
Summary: Each year one third of the area of tropical savannas is burned due to human activities. The ash from burning releases nutrients to regenerating vegetation. However, burning savannas can also generate large losses of nitrogen in form of nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas. Nitrous oxides are also likely to be released from the soils naturally and along with repeated burning, the impact on the nitrogen budget and its contribution to the greenhouse effect is unknown. This project will investigate the impact of fire on nitrogen losses from savanna systems, the magnitude of fire induced greenhouse gas emissions and the processes that influence nitrogen fluxes in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum.
Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in afforested ecosystems in southeastern Australia - fluxes, processes and regional budget
2004-2007, $536,000, ARC linkage with AGO, DSE
SK Arndt, CJ Weston, K Butterbach-Bahl, SJ Livesley.
Summary: There are no data available about the extent of emissions of the non-CO2 greenhouse gases nitrous oxide and methane from soils of forest ecosystems in Australia and the current methodolgy to quantify these emissions contains high uncertainties. Using the latest technology available we propose to i) measure emission rates of afforested ecosystems for non-CO2 greenhouse gases in relation to previous land-use in southeastern Australia, ii) identify the processes controlling the emissions, iii) use the obtained data to calibrate a biogeochemical model, and iv) use the model to estimate regional inventories for non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in southeastern Australia.
Trace gas exchange in Australian forests – from the soil, to the canopy and net ecosystem scale.
2006-7, $8,000, UniMelb Joint Research Project with Wollongong University
Livesley and Griffiths
Summary: Trace gas emissions from Australian forest systems have been poorly researched, despite their importance to national/regional greenhouse gas inventories. Recent technological advances have enabled their environmental importance and functioning to be assessed. The Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) technology enables multiple, simultaneous gas analysis through the canopy with minimal disturbance. The automated trace gas system enables accurate and continuous measurement of soil trace gas emissions. Concurrently, these technologies can provide the separation of different ecosystem component fluxes and a complete understanding of forest ecosystem gas exchange with supporting C and N isotope techniques and pool size measurement.
The impact of afforestation and harvest residue management upon greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 , N2O and CH4) from eucalypt plantations.
2006-7, $15,000, UniMelb-CSIRO Collaborative Research Grant
Livesley and Mendham (CSIRO, Perth )
Summary: Soils can be a significant source or sink for both N2O and CH4 depending upon environmental and anthropogenic conditions: oxygen availability, soil water content, soil temperature, C/N ratios and organic/inorganic N input rates. In the last decade, Eucalyptus globulus has been planted extensively throughout the southern states of Australia, predominantly on land previously used for grazing. Following harvesting, management options include harvest residue retention or removal and fertiliser application that can greatly alter soil conditions and microbially-mediated processes that control N2O, CH4 and CO2 emissions. Through collaboration with CSIRO, Forestry and Forest Products, and access to their long-term research sites in Western Australia the effect of harvest residue retention upon N2O, CH4 and CO2 flux rates from E. globulus plantations can be investigated. To understand the mechanisms that drive these fluxes process-based studies under laboratory temperature and soil moisture gradients can provide fundamental process understanding of soil N2O and CO2 flux. This process understanding can then help in the prediction of seasonal, annual or rotation greenhouse gas budgets alongside the long-term soil and micro-meteorological datasets.