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Water and Carbon Cycles

Land-use change and the carbon store

  • 2 things to know
  • Component 2

Overview

Land-use change in the context of the carbon cycle, one limitation of afforestation as a carbon strategy and conservation agriculture.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Define land-use change in the context of the carbon cycle.

Key term

How does deforestation release carbon?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Define land-use change in the context of the carbon cycle.

    Model answer

    Land-use change is the conversion of land from one cover type to another, such as forest to farmland. Each conversion alters both the biomass store and the soil carbon store.

  2. 2

    How does deforestation release carbon?

    Model answer

    Felled and burnt trees release their stored carbon to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Loss of the canopy also ends the annual uptake that the forest had provided.

  3. 3

    Roughly how much forest is cleared worldwide each year?

    Model answer

    Around 10 million hectares of forest are cleared globally each year. Tropical regions account for the overwhelming majority of that loss.

  4. 4

    Which country has lost the largest area of tropical rainforest, and to what?

    Model answer

    Brazil has lost the largest area of tropical rainforest, mostly from the Amazon basin. Cattle ranching, soya cultivation, logging and road building drive the clearance.

  5. 5

    How does deforestation affect the soil carbon store as well as the biomass?

    Model answer

    Exposure to sun and rain accelerates the oxidation of soil organic matter. Erosion then strips the thin topsoil that held most of the remaining carbon.

  6. 6

    Define afforestation.

    Model answer

    Afforestation is the planting of trees on land that was not previously forested. Reforestation restores tree cover on land that was forest before.

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