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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Parlier, California » San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center » Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #326545
Title: Environmental technologies of woody crop production systems

Author
item ZALESNY JR, RONALD - Us Forest Service (FS)
item STANTURF, JOHN - Us Forest Service (FS)
item GARDINER, EMILE - Us Forest Service (FS)
item Banuelos, Gary
item HALLETT, RICHARD - Us Forest Service (FS)
item HASS, AMIR - West Virginia State University
item STANGE, CRAIG - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, USDA)
item PERDUE, JAMES - Us Forest Service (FS)
item YOUNG, TIMOTHY - Forest Products Laboratory

Submitted to: BioEnergy Research
Publication Type: Literature Review
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/7/2016
Publication Date: 8/1/2016
Citation: Zalesny Jr, R.S., Stanturf, J.A., Gardiner, E.S., Banuelos, G.S., Hallett, R.A., Hass, A., Stange, C.M., Perdue, J.H., Young, T.M. 2016. Environmental technologies of woody crop production systems. BioEnergy Research. 9(2):492-506. doi: 10.1007/s12155-016-9738-y.

Interpretive Summary: It is estimated that 25% of the world's land area is degraded, thereby threatening global environmental sustainability. Soil erosion, loss of productivity potential, biodiversity loss, water shortage, and soil and water pollution are ongoing processes that decrease or degrade provisioning (e.g., biomass, freshwater) and regulating (e.g., carbon sequestration, soil quality) ecosystem services. Therefore, developing environmental technologies that utilize tree species is one practical strategy for the continued support of preserving ecosystems utilized by rural and urban populations. In this regard, genotype selection is a key component of these green technologies, and characteristics of the tree species used in short rotation woody biomass systems, as well as the silvicultural techniques developed for short rotation woody crops, are readily adapted to environmental applications. In this review, we describe the development of such woody crop production systems with poplar and willow tree species for the advancement of environmental technologies including phytoremediation, urban afforestation, forest restoration, and mine reclamation. The primary goal of these collective efforts is to develop tree-based systems and tools that can help mitigate ecological degradation and thereby sustain healthy ecosystems across the rural to urban continuum.

Technical Abstract: Land degradation is a threat to global sustainability with an estimated 25% of the world’s land area already degraded. Soil erosion, loss of productivity potential, biodiversity loss, water shortage, and soil pollution are ongoing processes that decrease or degrade ecosystem services. Degradation ranges from severe erosion of surface soil to chemical, biological, or radiological contamination or altered inundation regime. Ecosystem services are generally categorized as provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. Ecosystem services are key drivers in almost all Research and Development from the USDA Forest Service (USDA FS) and USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), and the USDA Biomass Research Centers focus specifically on provisioning services (e.g., biomass, freshwater) and regulating services (e.g., carbon sequestration, soil quality). Developing environmental technologies that maximize these services is essential to meet the needs of rural and urban populations. In this review, work accomplished by USDA scientists is presented as leaders in developing phytoremediation, urban afforestation, forest restoration, and mine reclamation technologies. The characteristics of the Populus and Salix tree species used in short rotation woody biomass applications, and the silvicultural techniques developed for short rotation woody crops (SRWCs), are readily adapted to environmental applications. In particular, poplars (Populus species and their hybrids) and willows (Salix species and their hybrids) have been used successfully in a variety of situations where the primary aims are environmental quality and protection rather than biomass production. Many poplar and willow genomic groups have been used for phytoremediation and associated environmental technologies. For Populus, the primary species used include: eastern cottonwood (P. deltoides Bartr. ex Marsh), European black poplar (P. nigra L.); Japanese poplar (P. suaveolens Fischer subsp. maximowiczii A. Henry), and western black poplar (P. trichocarpa Torr. & Gray). For Salix, six species are predominantly used for environmental technologies: Missouri willow (S. eriocephala Michx.), sandbar willow (S. interior Rowlee), Japanese willow (S. miyabeana Seemen.), black willow (S. nigra Marshall), basket willow (S. purpurea L.), and dragon willow (S. sachalinensis F. Schmidt). A common feature of the environmental technologies discussed is that they are designed for situations where the physical environment, especially the soil resource, has been altered to the point of degradation or presents conditions that are atypical of the “natural” conditions of the sites. In conclusion, identifying species or provenances adapted to these conditions is commonly the first requirement for developing appropriate technologies. High biomass productivity per se may not be the top priority; rather, successful establishment and persistence or high uptake of contaminants may be the primary goal.