Carbon debt of field-scale conservation reserve program grasslands converted to annual and perennial bioenergy crops
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15548752 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Abraha (0000-0001-8952-9477, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, corresponding author), Ilya Gelfand (0000-0002-8576-0978, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center), Stephen K Hamilton (0000-0002-4702-9017, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center), Jiquan Chen (0000-0003-0761-9458, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center), G Philip Robertson (0000-0001-9771-9895, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 024019-024019 |
| Publication date | 2019-01-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/aafc10 |
| OpenAlex | W2906771000 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 28 |
Over 5 million ha of US Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands have been converted to annual crops since 2000, driven mainly by demand for corn grain ethanol. Much of the soil carbon sequestered under CRP is lost upon conversion, creating a 'carbon debt' that is presumed to be repaid by future greenhouse gas (GHG) savings from ethanol's substitution for petroleum. Model simulations, extrapolations, and national statistics rather than direct measurements have been used thus far to estimate the long-term global warming impact (GWI) of such conversions. Here we report measured GWIs for three 22-year-old CRP grassland fields and three conventionally tilled agricultural (AGR) fields (11-17 ha) converted to either annual no-till corn or perennial cellulosic (switchgrass or restored prairie) bioenergy crops. We assessed GWIs for each field over eight years using whole-system life cycle analysis (LCA) by measuring: (a) GHG fluxes via eddy covariance and static chamber methodologies, (b) farming operations and agronomic inputs, and (c) the fossil fuel offset by ethanol use. Payback times were much longer than those estimated by prior modeling efforts. After 8 years, cumulative GWIs of switchgrass, restored prairie, and corn at the CRP grasslands were, respectively, -2.64.0, 6.93.6 and 85.25.1 Mg CO 2 -equivalent ha -1 . The switchgrass system had repaid its carbon debt by year eight and the restored prairie will have likely repaid by year ten; however, the no-till corn system appears likely to require >300 years. The same bioenergy crops grown on former agricultural lands, with no sequestered carbon lost on conversion, repaid their carbon debts within two years. Results indicate that GWI estimates and carbon debt payback times due to conversion of CRP lands to annual bioenergy crops have been substantially underestimated by current models
Agriculture · Agroforestry · Agronomy · Bioenergy · Biofuel · Biology · Cellulosic ethanol · Conservation Reserve Program · Corn ethanol · Ecosystem · Eddy covariance · Ethanol fuel · Fossil fuel · Greenhouse gas · Soil carbon · Soil water · Bioenergy crop production and management · Biofuel production and bioconversion · Engineering · Environmental Science · Forest Biomass Utilization and Management · Ecology
Albedo-induced global warming impact of Conservation Reserve Program grasslands converted to annual and perennial bioenergy crops
Climate Benefits of Increasing Plant Diversity in Perennial Bioenergy Crops
Identifying opportunities for nature-based solutions with geospatialized life cycle assessments and fine-scale socioecological data
Recent land use change in the Western Corn Belt threatens grasslands and wetlands
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Ethanol Can Contribute to Energy and Environmental Goals
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Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt
Soil carbon debt of 12,000 years of human land use
Cropland expansion outpaces agricultural and biofuel policies in the United States
Economic perspectives on land use change and leakage
Well-to-wheels energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of ethanol from corn, sugarcane and cellulosic biomass for US use
Loamy, Two-Storied Soils on the Outwash Plains of Southwestern Lower Michigan
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,43 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2024 (6) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |