The Greenhouse Gas Balance of Italy: A Synthesis
Parameter
Unit value (g C m2 y−1)
Total carbon uptake from natural ecosystems (Mt C y−1)
Comments
NEE
−227
(25 %: −264; 75 %: −191)
62.3
Median and interquartile range of empirical upscaling using artificial neural network (ANN) trained with eddy covariance data (Luyssaert et al. 2012) (Chap. 2).
The national area of natural ecosystems includes forestland, cropland and grassland, and has been derived from Corine Land Cover 2006 (CLC 2006)
GPP
849
(25 %: 811; 75 %: 891)
233
Table 1.2
Total Net Primary Production (NPP) of Italian forest ecosystems
Parameter | Unit value (g C m2 y−1) | Total carbon fixed in Italian forest ecosystems (Mt C y−1) | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
NPP (only aboveground biomass, 2005) | 135–145 | 11.82–12.70 | Inventory approach (Chap. 4) Italian forest area from INFC (2005) |
NPP (only below ground biomass, 2005) | 40.5435 | 3.55–3.81 | Based on inventory approach (Chap. 4) and elaborated considering a mean value of the root/shoot ratio (R) of the main Italian forest types equal to 0.30 (Federici et al. 2008) Italian forest area from INFC (2005) |
NPP forest tree biomass (below + above ground) in 2005 | 176–189 | 15.37–16.51 | |
Simulated NPP (all forest carbon pools) total | 300–450 | 26.72–40.08 | Modeling approach (Chap. 5) The national area of Italian forest types has been derived from Corine Land Cover 2006 (CLC 2006) |
• Mediterranean shrub land | 317 | 6.67 | |
• Holm oak and evergreen woods | 420 | 3.02 | |
• Woods mainly planted with Mediterranean pine trees and/or cypresses | 368 | 0.73 | |
• Hygrophilous forests | 320 | 0.23 | |
• Broad-leaved woods and plantations with non native species | 302 | 3.17 | |
• Deciduous mixed oaks woods | 402 | 7.98 | |
• Chestnut woods | 467 | 3.54 | |
• Beech forests | 381 | 3.5 | |
• Woods mainly planted with pine-trees in the sub-alpine and alpine areas (Silver fir and red fir woods) | 407 | 3.52 | |
• Black pine and mountain pine woods | 372 | 0.81 | |
• Conifers woods and plantations of non native species | 392 | 0.09 |
Table 1.3
Soil organic carbon (SOC) stock in Italian cropland ecosystems
Parameter | Unit value (g C m2) | Total SOC stock in Italian croplands (Mt C) | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
SOC stock in the upper 30 cm | – | 489 ± 148.2 | Data referred to 2007 (Chap. 8) |
SOC stock in the upper 30 cm | – | 470.5 | Projected for 2020, with no mitigation options (Chap. 8) |
Arable land and Agroforestry | 4.010 ± 230 to 6.980 ± 2530 | 285–497 | SOC stock in Italian cropland sub-categories, depending on climate types (Chiti et al. 2010) Data referred to 2000 (Chap. 8) |
Vineyards | 3.920 ± 1.000 to 8.220 ± 5.490 | 281–590 | |
Olive groves | 4.210 ± 1.330 5.600 ± 3.500 | 45.5–60.5 | |
Orchards | 3.810 ± 990 to 5.780 ± 1.640 | 240–365 | |
Rice fields | 6.010 ± 1.110 to 23.440 ± 8.030 | 12.8–19.9 |
The total carbon fixed in the Italian natural ecosystems through the process of photosynthesis, expressed as GPP, can be assumed of 233 millions of tons of Carbon (Mt C), of which 62.3 Mt C represents the total Italian net carbon sink, expressed as NEE (Table 1.1).