Current Research
Assessing resilience, carbon and water cycling of managed and unmanaged forests of the U.S. Southeast coastal plain in response to changes in hydrology, extreme events, and climate
Forested wetlands of the Southeast Lower Coastal Plain have long served as regionally important stores of carbon and highly productive ecosystems for forestry and agriculture forming the base for economic development. However, the historical drainage that permitted agriculture and forestry to prosper has also changed the geomorphic controls on decomposition processes that resulted in formation of peatland soils of immense carbon storage capacity. Further, rising sea-level, extreme weather events such as droughts and hurricanes, and rising temperature associated with climate change are changing the controlling mechanisms of soil carbon cycling differently in the managed vs. natural forests. This work uses eddy covariance methodology to quantify the net ecosystem exchange of carbon, water, and energy combined with plot level measurements of forest NPP, respiration, soil C formation and cycling, nutrient and water relations to better understand the effects of changing climate and land use on climate feedbacks of lower coastal plain forests. Representative natural forested wetlands with minimal alteration to hydrology and vegetation are being studied at the USFWS Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Dare County, NC. Intensively managed pine plantatations are being studied on industry land in cooperation with Weyerhaeuser NR Company, in Washington County, NC. Cooperators include scientists from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Weyerhaeuser NR Company, and the USDA Forest Service Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center. Findings will be used to paramterize ecosystem models of carbon and water cycling that are linked to larger scale models to extrapolate results to the region, providing policy makers, managers and the public with the tools needed to develop adaptation and mitigation strategies to preserve ecosystem services in the face of a rapidly changing climate and rising sea. This project has been funded by USDA Forest Service Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center, Department of Energy Terrestrial Ecosystem Science and National Institute for Climate Change Research programs, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Carolinas Integrated Sciences & Assessments.
Lab participants: JC Domec, Asko Noormets, Guofang Miao, Andrew Radecki, David Zietlow, Alexia Kelley, John King
Lab participants: JC Domec, Asko Noormets, Guofang Miao, Andrew Radecki, David Zietlow, Alexia Kelley, John King
Hardwood Bioenergy Crops
Transgenic Populus for cellulosic ethanol: trials for down-regulation of lignin; survival, productivity and physiology across three physiogeographic regions in North Carolina
Populus trichocarpa and a hybrid NM6 (P. maximowiczii x P. nigra) were genetically modified for total lignin content and S:G lignin ratios. Both total lignin and lignin composition have been found to affect ethanol conversion efficiency. Twelve to fifteen lines per species, representing a range of lignin and S:G combinations, were planted in the coastal plain, piedmont, and mountain regions of North Carolina. The study is in its fifth growing season.
Lab participants: Aletta Davis, John King
Lab participants: Aletta Davis, John King
Low-input Sycamore plantations for bioenergy: density and drought studies
In order for bioenergy to become a significant part of the nation's energy supply, production systems will have to be sustainable, tolerant of variation in climate, and compatible with existing managed and natural land uses. Tree-based systems hold promise because they don't compete with the food supply, require lower-inputs than agricultural crops, have high inherent resource use efficiency, and may confer ecosystem services benefits such as enhancing biodiversity and carbon storage. However, climate across the U.S. Southeast is predicted to become more variable, extreme, and generally drier in the coming decades, raising the need to understand how bioenergy production systems respond to changes in water availability. This project assesses the productivity, water use, and response to drought of American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) grown as a short-rotation coppice culture in the Piedmont of North Carolina. The experiment is a randomized complete block design of spacing (2,500, 5,000, 10,000 trees per hectare) x water availability (ambient precipitation, ambient - 20%) treatments replicated three times. Measurements include leaf gas exchange, water potential, tree sap flow, aboveground net primary production, volumetric soil water content and temperature. In Spring 2014, the first harvest after five years of growth is being conducted. Phenology, productivity and water use of the regenerating stand will be monitored in the coming year.
Lab participants: Elissa Ashley, John King
Lab participants: Elissa Ashley, John King
Effects of herbicide and insecticide in early hardwood bioenergy plantation establishment
Hardwood trees have a lot of potential as sources as bioenergy fuel as they grow fast, providing an excellent alternative to fossil fuels. Because bioenergy crops often have short rotation cycles, the initial establishment period is crucial to overall plantation productivity and success. In this experiment we are examining the effects of different management techniques (herbicide and insecticide) on the success of three hardwood tree species: American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), Yellow Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), and a Cottonwood hybrid (Populus nigra x maximowiczii).
Lab participants: Alexia Kelley, John King
Lab participants: Alexia Kelley, John King
Loblolly pine - switchgrass intercropping sustainability study
A long-term field study (Lenoir 1 Intercropping Sustainability Study) was established on the Lower Coastal Plain of North Carolina, U.S.A., to determine effects of intercropping and/or biomass management on site productivity and sustainability within the context of intensive forest management for production of solid wood products and biofuel feedstock. This study was established and is being maintained by Catchlight Energy LLC (a Chevron│Weyerhaeuser Joint Venture) on forest land owned and managed by Weyerhaeuser Company.
The objectives of this study are to:
• Quantify productivity rates of pine and switchgrass when grown alone and in combination;
• Quantify cycling rates and sustainability of soil resources (nutrients, water, carbon);
• Determine resource use efficiencies (light, nitrogen, water);
• Characterize the net carbon balance.
Lab participants: Janine Albaugh, John King, JC Domec
The objectives of this study are to:
• Quantify productivity rates of pine and switchgrass when grown alone and in combination;
• Quantify cycling rates and sustainability of soil resources (nutrients, water, carbon);
• Determine resource use efficiencies (light, nitrogen, water);
• Characterize the net carbon balance.
Lab participants: Janine Albaugh, John King, JC Domec
Implications of Nantucket pine tip moth (Rhyacionia frustrana) control for productivity and carbon sequestration in plantations of improved loblolly pine
Improvements in silviculture and tree genetics over the past 50 years have resulted in greatly increased productivity of pine plantations in the South. Unfortunately, improvements in growing conditions for the trees have also favored associated pests that significantly decrease realization of economic and environmental benefits of intensive plantation management. Nantucket pine tip moth (Rhyacionia frustrana) severely delays height growth and early plantation development in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) by damaging the terminal leader of young trees, decreasing the gains in growth expected from improved genetics and intensive silviculture. The goals of this project are: 1) to establish experimental forest plantations using common industry silvicultural practices and quantify the efficacy of an insecticide in protecting early stand development; and 2) to document the resulting impacts on stand-level carbon (C) cycling and sequestration.
Lab participants: Alexia Kelley, John King
Lab participants: Alexia Kelley, John King
PINEMAP
From the PINEMAP website:
"Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is one of three Coordinated Agricultural Projects awarded in 2011 by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).PINEMAP focuses on the 20 million acres of planted pine forests managed by private landowners in the Atlantic and Gulf coastal states from Virginia to Texas, plus Arkansas and Oklahoma. These forests provide critical economic and ecological services to U.S. citizens. Southeastern forests contain 1/3 of the contiguous U.S. forest carbon and form the backbone of an industry that supplies 16% of global industrial wood, 5.5% of the jobs, and 7.5% of the industrial economic activity of the region.
PINEMAP integrates research, extension, and education to enable southern pine landowners to manage forests to increase carbon sequestration; increase efficiency of nitrogen and other fertilizer inputs; and adapt forest management approaches to increase forest resilience and sustainability under variable climates."
To learn more about the project, visit the PINEMAP website. Our main involvement is with the silviculture and modeling components.
Lab Participants: Asko Noormets, JC Domec, Eric Ward, Wen Lin, John King
"Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is one of three Coordinated Agricultural Projects awarded in 2011 by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).PINEMAP focuses on the 20 million acres of planted pine forests managed by private landowners in the Atlantic and Gulf coastal states from Virginia to Texas, plus Arkansas and Oklahoma. These forests provide critical economic and ecological services to U.S. citizens. Southeastern forests contain 1/3 of the contiguous U.S. forest carbon and form the backbone of an industry that supplies 16% of global industrial wood, 5.5% of the jobs, and 7.5% of the industrial economic activity of the region.
PINEMAP integrates research, extension, and education to enable southern pine landowners to manage forests to increase carbon sequestration; increase efficiency of nitrogen and other fertilizer inputs; and adapt forest management approaches to increase forest resilience and sustainability under variable climates."
To learn more about the project, visit the PINEMAP website. Our main involvement is with the silviculture and modeling components.
Lab Participants: Asko Noormets, JC Domec, Eric Ward, Wen Lin, John King