Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Open Access Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Forestry (MS)

Administrative Home Department

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science

Advisor 1

Tara L. Bal

Committee Member 1

Andrew J. Storer

Committee Member 2

Yvette L. Dickinson

Abstract

Climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation are issues that are tightly related to the environment and the public’s awareness of forest conservation, which are currently major areas of global interest. Greenhouse gas emissions and removals are required to be reported regularly (5 year intervals) and in compliance with the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) of 1992, which was later extended by the Kyoto Protocol International Treaty. The UNFCCC`s policy has been accepted by more than 150 countries. Turkey`s forests are controlled and managed by the government and some major tree species still need to have their own equations developed across Turkey. This study reviews the use of current carbon estimation methods in Turkey (which are gain-loss and stock differences), how to create allometric equations and outlines the use of Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) as a modeling tool. Additionally, this study suggests methods for improving biomass and carbon calculations in Turkey. Manual calculations were compared with the FVS, and the numerical results were not significantly different, as expected as both used Jenkin`s formula and method. However, these two methods do differ on the basis of time efficiency, and field work intensity. Manual calculations are significantly slower than The FVS program. However, manual calculations are needed with field work to recollect data periodically that has changed over the time; such as diameter at breast height (DBH) or loses from harvesting or mortality. The discussions here will be a guide for future developing improved carbon calculations in Turkey.

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