https://www.nextgenscience.org/pe/hs-ls2-7-ecosystems-interactions-energy-and-dynamics

HS-LS2-7 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

This paper investigates a means to optimize carbon storage potential through knowledge of biodiversity mechanics and the idea of sinking carbon into plant life in order to lower atmospheric CO2.

https://www.nextgenscience.org/pe/ms-ls1-7-molecules-organisms-structures-and-processes

MS-LS1-7 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

It is important to understand the nature of the carbon cycle, and how carbon is utilized within organisms as biomass.

Teacher's Resource:

The removal of atmospheric CO2 reduces pollution, but it comes at the cost of creating plant conservation sites to store the carbon from CO2.

This paper focuses upon the utilization of biodiversity in order to to increase carbon storage for economic purposes. By increasing the amount of carbon that can be stored in a hectacre of grassland, it will become much cheaper to reduce pollution via carbon sinks.

Hungate et. al performed their investigations through past experiments that compared the carbon uptakes of grasslands of varying biodiversity over a period of 50 years.

Findings support a positive correlation between biodiversity and carbon uptake levels. Therefore, increasing biodiversity in carbon sinks will increase efficiency and will make carbon sequestration more affordable as a result.

While this paper shows a 'soft cap' (decreasing marginal effects) on these carbon uptake gains from biodiversity, this effect might be proven to have synergy with other efforts to improve carbon sequestration in the future.

Discussion Questions:

1. Why does adding to the biodiversity not linearly add to the carbon uptake rates?

2. Is the resource competition (resulting from biodiversity) limiting or benefiting the flora in carbon sequestration?

3. What is the 'sweet spot' of biodiversity that optimizes highest carbon storage per dollar spent?

4. Do the results of this study have qualities that could be generalized to a other grasslands or possibly even other types of habitat? SC

The economic value of grassland species for carbon storage is one of the first papers to monetarily quantify the gain or loss of a species from an ecosystem. Even slight additions (as little as one additional species) to the current U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve program could save hundreds of millions of dollars.

Read more in Michigan News: http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/24732-diversity-dividends-the-economic-value-of-grassland-species-for-carbon-storage

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Grasslands with greater biodiversity were found to feature greater biomass than grasslands with fewer species diversity.

Read more in ScienceDaily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170419091536.htm

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This article by Hungate et. al applies its findings to the Conservation Reserve Program, attempting to estimate species richness of CRP. This article ( D. L. Carter, J. M. Blair, Recovery of native plant community characteristics on a chronosequence of restored prairies seeded into pastures in West-Central Iowa. Restor. Ecol. 20, 170–179 (2012). ) is cited, yet this cited paper specifically does not use CRP grasslands, suggesting an error on the part of Hungate et. al.

Read more at PrarieBotanist: https://prairiebotanist.com/2017/04/11/a-brief-comment-on-the-economic-value-of-grassland-species-for-carbon-storage/

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Has the Earth's sixth mass extinction already arrived? A. D. Barnosky, N. Matzke, S. Tomiya, G. O. U. Wogan, B. Swartz, T. B. Quental, C. Marshall, J. L. McGuire, E. L. Lindsey, K. C. Maguire, B. Mersey, E. A. Ferrer

This article suggests that the current rate of species extinction is higher than what has been expected in the past (compared against fossil records). The authors propose that this elevated rate of extinction may possibly be the beginning of the 6th known mass extinction event on earth.

This extinction would drastically lower biodiversity by killing off many species that would otherwise function as carbon sinks. The release of such massive amounts of carbon might have dramatic effects upon the environment.

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Past and present of sediment and carbon biogeochemical cycling models By:Mackenzie, FT (Mackenzie, FT); Lerman, A (Lerman, A); Andersson, AJ (Andersson, AJ) This is a secondary study of the history of the carbon cycle, with particular respect to the onset of industrialization as well as the dynamic role the ocean plays in carbon storage. Prior to industrialization, the ocean was a net source of CO2 emissions due to the net carbon differences between photosynthesis and respiration. However, the massive CO2 releases from the burning of fossil fuels have made the ocean into a net carbon sink.

This citation is referring to the storage of carbon within calcium carbonate (CaCO3), or limescale within the ocean. This limescale comprises most of the 'rocks' in reference.

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Each additional degree of species richness is worth less than the previous degree of richness in terms of economic value. Therefore, the economic value does not increase in direct proportion with the species richness, although they are correlated.

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Perennial plants grow and bloom over the spring and summer, but die back every autumn and winter, This seasonal process involves the annual gain and loss of the biomass required for blooming.