title: Ecosystem services of boreal forests - Carbon budget mapping at high resolution.
abstract: The carbon (C) cycle of forests produces ecosystem services (ES) such as climate regulation and timber production. Mapping these ES using simple land cover -based proxies might add remarkable inaccuracy to the estimates. A framework to map the current status of the C budget of boreal forested landscapes was developed. The C stocks of biomass and soil and the annual change in these stocks were quantified in a 20 × 20 m resolution at the regional level on mineral soils in southern Finland. The fine-scale variation of the estimates was analyzed geo-statistically. The reliability of the estimates was evaluated by comparing them to measurements from the national multi-source forest inventory. The C stocks of forests increased slightly from the south coast to inland whereas the changes in these stocks were more uniform. The spatial patches of C stocks were larger than those of C stock changes. The patch size of the C stocks reflected the spatial variation in the environmental conditions, and that of the C stock changes the typical area of forest management compartments. The simulated estimates agreed well with the measurements indicating a good mapping framework performance. The mapping framework is the basis for evaluating the effects of forest management alternatives on C budget at high resolution across large spatial scales. It will be coupled with the assessment of other ES and biodiversity to study their relationships. The framework integrated a wide suite of simulation models and extensive inventory data. It provided reliable estimates of the human influence on C cycle in forested landscapes.
authors.affiliation: Finnish Environment Institute, Natural Environment Centre, Finland; University of Helsinki, Department of Geosciences and Geography, Finland. Electronic address: anu.akujarvi@ymparisto.fi.
authors.forename: Anu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akujärvi
authors.affiliation: Natural Resources Institute, Finland.
authors.forename: Aleksi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lehtonen
authors.affiliation: Finnish Environment Institute, Natural Environment Centre, Finland.
authors.forename: Jari
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liski
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D057486:Carbon Cycle; D057965:Carbon Sequestration; D057231:Climate Change; D017753:Ecosystem; D005387:Finland; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012987:Soil; D066188:Taiga
chemical_list: D012987:Soil
keywords: Carbon stock; Ecosystem services; Forest management; Mapping; Spatial variation