Whole-tree carbon dynamics in forest plantations: a chronosequence approach

Forests play a critical role in storing carbon, producing renewable resources, and supporting healthy ecosystems, yet scientists still have an incomplete understanding of how trees store and distribute carbon throughout their lifetimes. This project will improve understanding of carbon storage in long-term plantation forests across the southeastern United States, providing information to help landowners, forest managers, and policymakers make informed decisions about sustainable forest management. By improving estimates of whole-tree biomass and carbon storage across tree species and stand conditions, the research will strengthen forest carbon accounting and provide a more accurate assessment of forest productivity for sustainable timber production and renewable bioenergy. The project will also support management strategies that enhance forest productivity, ecosystem resilience, and long-term forest health. In addition, the project will provide training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students through field and laboratory research, strengthening the future workforce in forest science and natural resource management. The knowledge generated will advance the nation's scientific capacity to sustainably manage forest resources while supporting environmental stewardship, economic prosperity, and the long-term health of forest ecosystems. This project will quantify whole-tree biomass and carbon allocation in plantation forests using a chronosequence approach across multiple age classes, species groups (pine, hardwood, and mixed stands), and edaphic conditions. Initial sampling will focus on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) plantations because of their relatively uniform stand structure and long-term management history, allowing efficient evaluation of biomass accumulation over time. Aboveground biomass will be estimated using terrestrial LiDAR measurements integrated with species-specific allometric equations, while belowground biomass will be quantified using TreeRadar technology to estimate root biomass with minimal site disturbance. These complementary non-destructive methods will provide comprehensive estimates of whole-tree biomass and carbon content while preserving study sites for future research. The resulting empirical dataset will improve understanding of species-specific patterns of carbon partitioning and allocation, strengthen process-based models that predict forest carbon dynamics, and improve the accuracy of carbon sequestration estimates in managed forests. The project will advance fundamental knowledge of forest ecosystem processes while providing scalable approaches for assessing forest biomass productivity, timber potential, bioenergy feedstock availability, and carbon storage across plantation systems in the southeastern United States. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.