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Index of Subjects Hi All One of the things that came out of our Salmon liming investigation that you helped us with Dave was the fact that Christmas treee growers didn't like the idea of liming very much. They thought it would encourage decidious trees and make for more weeding. There doesn't seem much info re this except in extreme cases for example Subbury below the smoke stacks. Lots of opinions though! Enjoy the spring Paul --- On Sat, 4/13/13, David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com> wrote: > From: David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com> > Subject: Re: [NatureNS] tree biomass fuel ... calcium loss also critical in NS > To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca > Received: Saturday, April 13, 2013, 2:25 PM > Hi Dave P. & All, > > Apr 13, 2013 > Was this effect of Ca on tree productivity > established by experiment, e.g. application of Gypsum, or by > association ? Genuine Ca deficiency is, as I recall, just > about unknown apart from extreme conditions such as > Serpentine soils or solution culture. > > In an interesting experiment reported by > Reich et al. (Ecology Letters (2005) 8:811-818),14 tree > species were grown for 30 years in replicated plots of > 'uniform' initial soil and a converse effect was > demonstrated; species with high Ca in their leaf litter > significantly increased soil Ca and soil pH. > > [BTW, soil pH usually increases as soil Ca > increases (there is only so much exchange capacity to go > around) but the two can be manipulated independently, e.g. > Gypsum will increase soil Ca while having almost no effect > on pH.] > > Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville > ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Patriquin" <patriqui@DAL.CA> > To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>; > "Mary Macaulay" <marymacaulay@hotmail.com> > Cc: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca> > Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 12:35 PM > Subject: Re: [NatureNS] tree biomass fuel ... calcium loss > also critical in NS > > > > In addition to concerns raised by the Nature article, a > multi-authored paper published in the Policy Forum of > Science in 2009 pointed out that there is a critical > accounting error in the Kyoto Protocol that allows > biomass energy to be treated as carbon neutral, regardless > of the source. The error is very large for forest > biomass. > > > > Searchinger. T.D. et al T.D. et al., 2009. Fixing a > Critical Climate Accounting Error Science 23 October 2009: > Vol. 326. no. 5952, pp. 527-528 > > > > In addition, we should be concerned about calcium > losses in NS. NS forests are the most or amongst the most > intensively harvested in Canada, half or more of our > soils by area are very calcium poor and highly > susceptible to soil acidification, and the area is stressed > by acid rain. There are worrying signs that for large > areas of Nova Scotia (esp in the SW), significant > declines in productivity or other effects of low > calcium may be only 1 or 2 rotations away, if not > already beginning to happen. Further, climatic warming can > be expected to exacerbate these stresses, e.g., > because the deciduous species expected to be favoured > have higher calcium requirements than softwood. > > > > Intensive forest harvesting can only exacerbate this > problem, both by direct removal of nutrients and though > increased losses from leaching. > > > > Loss of salmon from many of our rivers is attributed to > acid rain but also reflects reduced levels of calcium in the > upland soils. > > > > Birds are also affected, see > > http://news.psu.edu/story/155790/2011/09/15/research-shows-soil-calcium-limits-forest-songbirds > > > > ...we have many reasons to be concerned about > continued clearcutting in NS, and the obscurification > of this issue by the current government. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Quoting Mary Macaulay <marymacaulay@hotmail.com>: > > > >> One of The Economist leaders this week warns > against the trend toward using forest biomass as fuel > (they call it environmental lunacy). It's a great > article on page 71 for those who subscribe > >> or at this link > >> http://www.economist.com/news/business/21575771-environmental-lunacy-europe-fuel-future > >> > >> Please circulate this widely. It's nice to see this > highly respected journal calling an axe an axe. > >> > >> Mary Macaulay > > > > > > > > > > ----- > > No virus found in this message. > > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > > Version: 2013.0.3272 / Virus Database: 3162/6236 - > Release Date: 04/10/13 > > > >
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