A novel methodology to characterize and quantify regional farmscape non-production perennial vegetation carbon storage a
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A novel methodology to characterize and quantify regional farmscape non-production perennial vegetation carbon storage and potential for loss in Southwest British Columbia Anna M. Rallings . Sean M. Smukler
. Kent Mullinix
Received: 18 October 2019 / Accepted: 11 June 2020 Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Temperate zone agriculture landscapes are often comprised of both croplands and non-production perennial vegetation (NPPV). The latter provides ecosystem services (ES), of which carbon sequestration is one. Estimation of aboveground carbon stocks in NPPV has incentivized carbon storage within the agricultural landscape. Remote sensing has significantly improved resolution of earth imaging and automated assessment of these often small, fragmented NPPV parcels. Novel methods of assessment have also been motivated by changes in land policy and concomitant loss of NPPV carbon stocks. To characterize and evaluate the carbon storage potential of agricultural NPPV in Southwestern British Columbia, we utilized a compliment of remote sensing and secondary data sources. Object- and pixel-oriented classification with RapidEye imagery enabled
A. M. Rallings Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Merced, 5200 North Lake Rd, Merced, CA 95340, USA S. M. Smukler Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, 2357 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada K. Mullinix (&) Institute for Sustainable Food Systems, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, 12666 72 Ave, Surrey, BC V3W 2M8, Canada e-mail: [email protected]
mapping of NPPV at 92.9% accuracy, covering 33.2% of the landscape. NPPV provided 3.34 Mt C in aboveground biomass, 38.4% of which was composed of fragments unlikely to be identified through coarser satellite imagery. Using secondary soil surveys and sub-regional characteristics, indicators of agricultural expansion suggested that small parcels of NPPV were more likely to persist on active farmland, while large forest stands ([ 9 hectares) were less likely to occur alongside lands already in production and often located on lands amenable to farming. Were these large contiguous tracks of NPPV cleared for production agriculture, we estimate that 0.98–1.86 Mt of stored carbon could potentially be released. These stands represent important carbon sinks and their retention could be incentivized through ES services remuneration and conservation programs. Keywords Remote sensing Land cover Carbon stocks Agriculture Ecosystem services
Introduction Perennial vegetation in the form of contiguous or fragmented forests, hedgerows and riparian buffers, on agricultural lands can provide numerous ecosystem services (ES) and contribute to ecologically sound farm management (British Columbia Ministry of
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Agroforest Syst
Agriculture 2003; 2010; Bentrup 2008; Jose 2009; Nair et al. 2010; Power 2010; Udawatta and Jose 2011). The perennial vegetation surrounding agricultural production fields, or non-production perenni
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