[NatureNS] tree biomass fuel ... calcium loss x Red Spruce &

Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:00:30 -0300
From: David Patriquin <patriqui@dal.ca>
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&gt;&gt
David W:

Your thoughts are pretty much along the lines of those I expressed in  
a submission to the 2010 Energy Consultation:

http://versicolor.ca/biomass/docs/NSEsubmission.html

-David P


Quoting David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com>:

> Hi Dave P. & all                            Apr 15, 2013
>    Thanks for this but we have got off on a tangent that is not  
> especially relevant to the original question which is-- What fuel,  
> given a choice of biofuel, coal, natural gas and oil,  is  
> potentially most desirable from a net carbon emissions per unit  
> energy released viewpoint ?
>    If we can agree that the answer to the above is biomass then the  
> second level question emerges-- As a source of biomass energy, which  
> is preferable, wild wood, grown wood, grown grass, cultured algae,  
> peat...?
> And clearly, no one of these will consistently be preferable but any  
> could be depending upon circumstances. Given idle farmland suited  
> for Miscanthus why not grow Miscanthus for biomass ? Given a  
> biosolid 'disposal problem' and idle farmland why not grow Hybrid  
> Poplar for biofuel ? Given Hybrid Poplar windbreaks in need of  
> renewal why not route the wood to biofuel ? Given overstocked stands  
> of wild wood why not thin them for biofuel ? Leaving stands to self  
> thin can generate a fire hazard and what is gained if dead trees,  
> living trees, litter and the organic layer goes up in smoke ? Given  
> waste heat why not culture algae for biofuel ? ...
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Patriquin" <patriqui@dal.ca>
> To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>; "David & Alison Webster" <dwebster@glinx.com>
> Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2013 10:55 PM
> Subject: Re: [NatureNS] tree biomass fuel ... calcium loss x Red  
> Spruce & Sugar Maple
>
>
>> Hi David & Alison Webster:
>>
>> I am not aware of effects of calcium addition on growth per se, but  
>>  there is experimental evidence for positive effects of calcium   
>> addition on stress resistance, germination,  mycorrhizae etc.,  
>> e.g.,  for two important species in our Acadian Forest, sugar maple  
>> and red  spruce:
>>
>> --Tree Physiology 28, 855-862
>> Calcium addition at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest increases
>> sugar storage, antioxidant activity and cold tolerance in native red
>> spruce (Picea rubens). JOSHUA M. HALMAN,ET AL.
>> "...Our results suggest that low foliar sugar concentrations and  
>> APX activity, and reduced cold tolerance in trees in the reference   
>> watershed contributed to their high vulnerability to winter injury  
>> in  2003."
>>
>> ---Ecology, 87(5), 2006, pp. 1267-1280 2006
>> RESPONSE OF SUGAR MAPLE TO CALCIUM ADDITION TO NORTHERN HARDWOOD FOREST
>> STEPHANIE M. JUICE, ET AL.
>> "...These results reinforce and extend other regional observations   
>> that sugar maple decline in the northeastern United States and   
>> southern Canada is caused in part by anthropogenic effects on soil   
>> calcium status..."
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Quoting David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com>:
>>
>>> Hi Dave P. & All,                        Apr 14, 2013
>>>   The usgs article reflects an astonishing detachment from reality  
>>>  by starting the first line of the Abstract with "Since the  
>>> discovery  of acid rain in the 1970's..". Acidic precipitation was  
>>> documented  at least as early as 1852 when it was described by  
>>> Robert Angus Smith.
>>>
>>>   The question remains, has anyone demonstrated increased growth  
>>> of forest trees in response to application of Gypsum ? Or  
>>> limestone for that matter.
>>>
>>>   Soil chemistry in natural profiles can be quite baffling because  
>>>  it can resemble a 4-dimensional marble cake. About 1975 I was   
>>> preparing to set up a Ca orchard trial and sampled leaves of 40 or  
>>>  so trees in three orchards. In one orchard, leaf Ca was all over  
>>> the  map, making it useless for a Ca trial but conceivably  
>>> informative  for leaf Ca to soil Ca correlations. So the following  
>>> year I sampled  soil from 0-100 cm in 10 cm increments and again  
>>> sampled leaves. For  starters, the soil Ca of few adjacent layers  
>>> was correlated and the  leaf Ca of years 1 & 2 were poorly  
>>> correlated !
>>>
>>>   Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Patriquin" <patriqui@dal.ca>
>>> To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>; "David & Alison Webster"  
>>> <dwebster@glinx.com>
>>> Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2013 12:00 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [NatureNS] tree biomass fuel ... calcium loss also   
>>> critical in NS
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi David & Alison,
>>>>
>>>> For an excellent overview of the forest calcium issue, see:
>>>>
>>>> Soil-Calcium Depletion Linked to Acid Rain and Forest Growth in  
>>>> the Eastern United States
>>>>
>>>> By Gregory B. Lawrence and T. G. Huntington
>>>>
>>>> available at
>>>> http://ny.water.usgs.gov/pubs/wri/wri984267/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Related studies have been done in Nova Scotia by Paul Arp & Co.
>>>> See 2010 poster presentation
>>>> Quantifying the impacts of biomass harvesting on nutrient budgets  
>>>> across Nova Scotia
>>>> (Search x Google to bring up PDF)
>>>>
>>>> The current government/DNR appears to be sitting on the details   
>>>> which may contain some inconvenient truths related to possible  
>>>> use  of SW Nova Scotia forests as chemical feedstocks.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Quoting David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com>:
>>>>
>>>>> 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