Human-induced changes in US biogenic volatile organic compound emissions: evidence from long-term forest inventory data

  1. Drew W. Purves1,
  2. John P. Caspersen2,
  3. Paul R. Moorcroft3,
  4. George C. Hurtt4,
  5. Stephen W. Pacala1

Article first published online: 13 SEP 2004

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2004.00844.x

Issue

Global Change Biology

Global Change Biology

Volume 10, Issue 10, pages 1737–1755, October 2004

Additional Information

How to Cite

Purves, D. W., Caspersen, J. P., Moorcroft, P. R., Hurtt, G. C. and Pacala, S. W. (2004), Human-induced changes in US biogenic volatile organic compound emissions: evidence from long-term forest inventory data. Global Change Biology, 10: 1737–1755. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2004.00844.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of EEB, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA,

  2. 2

    Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3B3,

  3. 3

    Department of OEB, Harvard University, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA,

  4. 4

    Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire, 39 College Road, Durham, NH 03824-3525, USA

* D. W. Purves, tel. +1 609 258 6886, fax +1 609 258 6818, e-mail: dpurves@princeton.edu

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 16 SEP 2004
  2. Article first published online: 13 SEP 2004
  3. Received 12 November 2003; received in revised form and accepted 23 January 2004

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Keywords:

  • Biogenic hydrocarbons;
  • FIA (forest inventory and analysis);
  • forest management;
  • land use;
  • plantation forestry;
  • ozone precursors

Abstract

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by woody vegetation influence global climate forcing and the formation of tropospheric ozone. We use data from over 250 000 re-surveyed forest plots in the eastern US to estimate emission rates for the two most important biogenic VOCs (isoprene and monoterpenes) in the 1980s and 1990s, and then compare these estimates to give a decadal change in emission rate. Over much of the region, particularly the southeast, we estimate that there were large changes in biogenic VOC emissions: half of the grid cells (1°× 1°) had decadal changes in emission rate outside the range −2.3% to +16.8% for isoprene, and outside the range 0.2–17.1% for monoterpenes. For an average grid cell the estimated decadal change in heatwave biogenic VOC emissions (usually an increase) was three times greater than the decadal change in heatwave anthropogenic VOC emissions (usually a decrease, caused by legislation). Leaf-area increases in forests, caused by anthropogenic disturbance, were the most important process increasing biogenic VOC emissions. However, in the southeast, which had the largest estimated changes, there were substantial effects of ecological succession (which decreased monoterpene emissions and had location-specific effects on isoprene emissions), harvesting (which decreased monoterpene emissions and increased isoprene emissions) and plantation management (which increased isoprene emissions, and decreased monoterpene emissions in some states but increased monoterpene emissions in others). In any given region, changes in a very few tree species caused most of the changes in emissions: the rapid changes in the southeast were caused almost entirely by increases in sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) and a few pine species. Therefore, in these regions, a more detailed ecological understanding of just a few species could greatly improve our understanding of the relationship between natural ecological processes, forest management, and biogenic VOC emissions.

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