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Dr. Ken Byrne
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick V94 T9PX, Ireland

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Research Keywords & Expertise

0 Forest Ecosystem Services
0 The impact of land use
0 Land use change on soil carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions
0 Carbon storage in harvested wood products
0 Nutrient stores in forest biomass

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The impact of land use
Land use change on soil carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions
Carbon storage in harvested wood products

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Primary research article
Published: 05 May 2021 in Global Change Biology
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Drainage and conversion of natural peatlands into forestry increases soil CO2 emissions through decomposition of peat and modifies the quantity and quality of litter inputs and therefore the soil carbon balance. In organic soils, CO2 net emissions and removals, are reported using carbon emission factors (EF). The choice of specific default Tier 1 EF values from the IPCC 2013 Wetlands supplement depends on land use categories and climate zones. However, Tier 1 EF for afforested peatlands in the temperate maritime climate zone are based on data from eight sites, mainly located in the hemiboreal zone, and the uncertainty associated with these default values is a concern. In addition, moving from Tier 1 to higher‐Tier carbon reporting values is highly desirable when large areas are affected by land use changes. In this study, we estimated site‐specific soil carbon balance for the development of Tier 2 soil CO2‐C EFs for afforested peatlands. Soil heterotrophic respiration and aboveground litterfall were measured during two years at eight afforested peatland sites in Ireland. In addition, fine roots turnover rate and site‐specific fine root biomass were used to quantify belowground litter inputs. Our findings found that draining of peatlands, and planting them with either Sitka spruce or lodgepole pine, resulted in soils being net carbon sources. The soil carbon balance at multi‐year sites varied between 63 ± 92 and 309 ± 67 g C m‐2 year‐1. Mean CO2‐C EF for afforested peatlands was 1.68 ± 0.33 t CO2‐C ha‐1 year‐1. The improved CO2‐C EFs presented here for afforested peatlands are proposed as a basis to update national CO2‐C emissions from this land‐use class in Ireland. Furthermore, new data from these sites will significantly contribute to the development of more reliable IPCC default Tier 1 CO2‐C EFs for afforested peatlands in the maritime temperate climate zone.

ACS Style

Antonio Jonay Jovani‐Sancho; Thomas Cummins; Kenneth A. Byrne. Soil carbon balance of afforested peatlands in the maritime temperate climatic zone. Global Change Biology 2021, 27, 3681 -3698.

AMA Style

Antonio Jonay Jovani‐Sancho, Thomas Cummins, Kenneth A. Byrne. Soil carbon balance of afforested peatlands in the maritime temperate climatic zone. Global Change Biology. 2021; 27 (15):3681-3698.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Antonio Jonay Jovani‐Sancho; Thomas Cummins; Kenneth A. Byrne. 2021. "Soil carbon balance of afforested peatlands in the maritime temperate climatic zone." Global Change Biology 27, no. 15: 3681-3698.

Research paper
Published: 11 July 2020 in Soil Use and Management
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Peatlands occupy 20% of the land area of Ireland and store over half of soil carbon stocks. Over 80% of these peatlands have been disturbed by human activity such as drainage for peat extraction, afforestation and agriculture. In this study, peat samples were collected from 12 horticultural peat extraction sites in the Irish midlands. The carbon (C), nitrogen (N), hydrogen, and sulphur content were determined, and from these the carbon oxidation state (Cox) and oxidative ratio (OR) were calculated. The carbon oxidation ratio reflects organic matter synthesis and degradation, and is thus an important parameter in understanding terrestrial carbon cycling, whilst OR represents the molar ratio of oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes associated with net ecosystem exchange. Elemental concentrations and ratios were typical for Irish horticultural peat (e.g. carbon concentrations 54 – 57%), though showed site to site variability. Cox and OR values varied between ‐0.22 and ‐0.11, and 1.04 and 1.07 respectively and were comparable to United Kingdom peat soils. All values for OR were lower than 1.1, the value commonly used in global CO2 partitioning studies. Further research should investigate OR values in peatland which has not been studied to date. Across all sites, measures of increased decomposition (i.e. C/N ratios) significantly correlated with increasing OR reflecting more reduced organic matter. This study provides data in temperate peat soils that increases the coverage of Cox and OR values and will inform global CO2 partitioning studies.

ACS Style

Kenneth A. Byrne; Arit Efretuei; Kilian Walz; Gareth D. Clay. Characterization of elemental ratios and oxidative ratio of horticultural peat. Soil Use and Management 2020, 37, 640 -647.

AMA Style

Kenneth A. Byrne, Arit Efretuei, Kilian Walz, Gareth D. Clay. Characterization of elemental ratios and oxidative ratio of horticultural peat. Soil Use and Management. 2020; 37 (3):640-647.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kenneth A. Byrne; Arit Efretuei; Kilian Walz; Gareth D. Clay. 2020. "Characterization of elemental ratios and oxidative ratio of horticultural peat." Soil Use and Management 37, no. 3: 640-647.

Preprint content
Published: 23 March 2020
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While peatlands constitute the largest soil carbon stock in Ireland with 75% of soil carbon stored in an area covering an estimated 20% of the land surface, carbon stocks of peatlands are affected by past and present disturbances related to various land uses. Afforestation, grazing and peat extraction for energy and horticultural use often are major drivers of peatland soil degradation. A comparative assessment of the impact of land disturbance on peatland soil carbon stocks on a national scale has been lacking so far. Current research, funded by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), addresses this issue with the goal to fill various gaps related to mapping and modeling changes of soil carbon stock in Irish peatlands. Data from the first nationwide peatland survey forms the basis for this study, in which the influence of different factors and covariates on soil carbon distribution in peatlands is examined. After data exploratory analysis, a mixed linear modeling approach is tested for its suitability to explain peatland soil carbon distribution within the Republic of Ireland. Parameters are identified which are responsible for changes across the country. In addition, model performance to map peat soil carbon stock within a three-dimensional space is evaluated.

ACS Style

Kilian Walz; Kenneth A Byrne; David Wilson; Florence Renou-Wilson. Modeling relevant factors and covariates of carbon stock changes in peatlands using a hierarchical linear mixed modeling approach. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Kilian Walz, Kenneth A Byrne, David Wilson, Florence Renou-Wilson. Modeling relevant factors and covariates of carbon stock changes in peatlands using a hierarchical linear mixed modeling approach. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kilian Walz; Kenneth A Byrne; David Wilson; Florence Renou-Wilson. 2020. "Modeling relevant factors and covariates of carbon stock changes in peatlands using a hierarchical linear mixed modeling approach." , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 19 November 2019 in International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
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Nutrient deficiency in forest stands has a negative impact on timber production. Although there are numerous studies investigating nutrient deficiency in forests using remote sensing, research has usually focused on extracting nutrient/pigment concentrations using hyperspectral imagery. Results of studies using this method of assessment are uncertain at the canopy level. This study proposes using freely available multispectral imagery to identify nutrient deficiency in commercially managed forest plantations. A classification map of nutrient deficient, healthy, and a third class, other, for State spruce forests in the Republic of Ireland was constructed using multispectral Sentinel 2 images from Spring and a Random Forest model. The forest area of interest (AOI) was Sitka spruce or Norway spruce plantations greater than 12 years old. Results showed that the overall accuracy was 89% and the associated Kappa Index of agreement was 79%. An unbiased area estimator was vital for an accurate estimate of the scale of nutrient deficiency, which concluded that 23% of the AOI was nutrient deficient. Early detection of nutrient deficiency is crucial to mitigate negative impacts on productivity so a time series analysis of the spectral response of healthy and nutrient deficient classes using Google Earth Engine's Landsat 5, 7, and 8 archive was carried out. A control of known nutrient deficient sites, as identified through foliar analysis, was used for comparison with the nutrient deficient and healthy training data. The spectral response showed a decrease through time for all of the foliar analysis and training data using the green (520–600 nm), red (630–690 nm), and SWIR spectra (1550–1700 nm) during Spring. This decreasing trend is due to the growth of foliage, with the difference in spectral response between nutrient deficient and healthy stands being attributed to the presence of chlorosis in stands suffering from nutrient deficiency. Spectral thresholds using digital numbers for nutrient deficient stands were identified for an operational optimum age cohort of between 10–12 years old which will be used for early detection.

ACS Style

Dylan Walshe; Daniel McInerney; Ruben Van De Kerchove; Clémence Goyens; Preethi Balaji; Kenneth A. Byrne. Detecting nutrient deficiency in spruce forests using multispectral satellite imagery. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 2019, 86, 101975 .

AMA Style

Dylan Walshe, Daniel McInerney, Ruben Van De Kerchove, Clémence Goyens, Preethi Balaji, Kenneth A. Byrne. Detecting nutrient deficiency in spruce forests using multispectral satellite imagery. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. 2019; 86 ():101975.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Dylan Walshe; Daniel McInerney; Ruben Van De Kerchove; Clémence Goyens; Preethi Balaji; Kenneth A. Byrne. 2019. "Detecting nutrient deficiency in spruce forests using multispectral satellite imagery." International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 86, no. : 101975.

Article
Published: 12 September 2018 in Biogeochemistry
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Understanding and quantifying soil respiration and its component fluxes are necessary to model global carbon cycling in a changing climate as small changes in soil CO2 fluxes could have important implications for future climatic conditions. A soil respiration partitioning study was conducted in eight afforested peatland sites in south-west Ireland. Using trenched points, annual soil CO2 emissions, and the contributions of root and heterotrophic respiration as components of total soil respiration, were estimated. Nonlinear regression models were evaluated to determine the best predictive soil respiration model for each component flux, using soil temperature and water table level as explanatory variables. Temporal variation in soil CO2 efflux was driven by soil temperature at 10 cm depth, with all treatment points also affected by water table level fluctuations. The effect of water table level on soil respiration was best accounted for by incorporating a water level Gaussian function into the soil-temperature–soil-respiration model. Mean root respiration was 44% of mean total soil respiration, varying between 1100 and 2049 g CO2 m−2 year−1. Heterotrophic respiration was divided between peat respiration and litter respiration, which accounted for 35 and 21% of total soil respiration, respectively. While peat respiration varied between 774 and 1492 g CO2 m−2 year−1, litter respiration varied between 514 and 1013 g CO2 m−2 year−1. Although the extrapolation of these results to other sites should be done with caution, the empirical models developed for the entire dataset in this study are a useful tool to predict and simulate CO2 emissions in similar afforested peatlands (e.g. pine and spruce plantations) in temperate maritime climate conditions.

ACS Style

A. Jonay Jovani-Sancho; Thomas Cummins; Kenneth A. Byrne. Soil respiration partitioning in afforested temperate peatlands. Biogeochemistry 2018, 141, 1 -21.

AMA Style

A. Jonay Jovani-Sancho, Thomas Cummins, Kenneth A. Byrne. Soil respiration partitioning in afforested temperate peatlands. Biogeochemistry. 2018; 141 (1):1-21.

Chicago/Turabian Style

A. Jonay Jovani-Sancho; Thomas Cummins; Kenneth A. Byrne. 2018. "Soil respiration partitioning in afforested temperate peatlands." Biogeochemistry 141, no. 1: 1-21.

Journal article
Published: 01 June 2018 in Environmental Pollution
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Private groundwater sources in the Republic of Ireland provide drinking water to an estimated 750,000 people or 16% of the national population. Consumers of untreated groundwater are at increased risk of infection from pathogenic microorganisms. However, given the volume of private wells in operation, remediation or even quantification of public risk is both costly and time consuming. In this study, a hierarchical logistic regression model was developed to 'predict' contamination with E. coli based on the results of groundwater quality analyses of private wells (n = 132) during the period of September 2011 to November 2012. Assessment of potential microbial contamination risk factors were categorised into three groups: Intrinsic (environmental factors), Specific (local features) and Infrastructural (groundwater source characteristics) which included a total of 15 variables. Overall, 51.4% of wells tested positive for E. coli during the study period with univariate analysis indicating that 11 of the 15 assessed risk factors, including local bedrock type, local subsoil type, septic tank reliance, 5 day antecedent precipitation and temperature, along with well type and depth, were all significantly associated with E. coli presence (p < 0.05). Hierarchical logistic regression was used to develop a private well susceptibility model with the final model containing 8 of the 11 associated variables. The model was shown to be highly efficient; correctly classifying the presence of E. coli in 94.2% of cases, and the absence of E. coli in 84.7% of cases. Model validation was performed using an external data set (n = 32) and it was shown that the model has promising accuracy with 90% of positive E. coli cases correctly predicted. The developed model represents a risk assessment and management tool that may be used to develop effective water-quality management strategies to minimize public health risks both in Ireland and abroad.

ACS Style

Jean O'Dwyer; Paul D. Hynds; Kenneth A. Byrne; Michael P. Ryan; Catherine C. Adley. Development of a hierarchical model for predicting microbiological contamination of private groundwater supplies in a geologically heterogeneous region. Environmental Pollution 2018, 237, 329 -338.

AMA Style

Jean O'Dwyer, Paul D. Hynds, Kenneth A. Byrne, Michael P. Ryan, Catherine C. Adley. Development of a hierarchical model for predicting microbiological contamination of private groundwater supplies in a geologically heterogeneous region. Environmental Pollution. 2018; 237 ():329-338.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jean O'Dwyer; Paul D. Hynds; Kenneth A. Byrne; Michael P. Ryan; Catherine C. Adley. 2018. "Development of a hierarchical model for predicting microbiological contamination of private groundwater supplies in a geologically heterogeneous region." Environmental Pollution 237, no. : 329-338.

Chapter
Published: 30 March 2018 in World Soils Book Series
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Soils act as both sources and sinks of atmospheric C and as such there is great interest in investigating the impact of land use and land use change on C stocks in soils. Peatlands occupy ~20% of the irish landscape and store 75% of all C stocks. While pristine peatlands are long term C sinks, drainage and land use may change these systems to sources of soil C. Forests are generally recognised to be C sinks although the role of soil differs between soil types. Studies to date suggest that afforested Gley soils are C sinks while afforested Brown Earths may lose C. Grassland is the dominant land use and site based studies suggest that it could be a C sink of 0.5 t C ha−1 year−1. Cropland is a net C source with cultivation being the principal driver of this loss. Options to maintain or enhance C stocks in tillage systems include the use of cover crops, straw and manure incorporation and a move to minimum tillage. Despite the progress that has been made in quantifying C stocks in Irish soils and in understanding the impact of land use on soil C stocks many information gaps remain.

ACS Style

Kenneth A. Byrne; Gary Lanigan; Rachel Creamer; Florence Renou-Wilson. Soils and Carbon Storage. World Soils Book Series 2018, 245 -256.

AMA Style

Kenneth A. Byrne, Gary Lanigan, Rachel Creamer, Florence Renou-Wilson. Soils and Carbon Storage. World Soils Book Series. 2018; ():245-256.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kenneth A. Byrne; Gary Lanigan; Rachel Creamer; Florence Renou-Wilson. 2018. "Soils and Carbon Storage." World Soils Book Series , no. : 245-256.

Journal article
Published: 01 March 2018 in Geoderma
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ACS Style

Gemma Torres-Sallan; Rachel Creamer; Gary J. Lanigan; Brian Reidy; Kenneth A. Byrne. Effects of soil type and depth on carbon distribution within soil macroaggregates from temperate grassland systems. Geoderma 2018, 313, 52 -56.

AMA Style

Gemma Torres-Sallan, Rachel Creamer, Gary J. Lanigan, Brian Reidy, Kenneth A. Byrne. Effects of soil type and depth on carbon distribution within soil macroaggregates from temperate grassland systems. Geoderma. 2018; 313 ():52-56.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Gemma Torres-Sallan; Rachel Creamer; Gary J. Lanigan; Brian Reidy; Kenneth A. Byrne. 2018. "Effects of soil type and depth on carbon distribution within soil macroaggregates from temperate grassland systems." Geoderma 313, no. : 52-56.

Journal article
Published: 01 March 2018 in Geoderma
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ACS Style

Alina Premrov; Thomas Cummins; Kenneth A. Byrne. Bulk-density modelling using optimal power-transformation of measured physical and chemical soil parameters. Geoderma 2018, 314, 205 -220.

AMA Style

Alina Premrov, Thomas Cummins, Kenneth A. Byrne. Bulk-density modelling using optimal power-transformation of measured physical and chemical soil parameters. Geoderma. 2018; 314 ():205-220.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alina Premrov; Thomas Cummins; Kenneth A. Byrne. 2018. "Bulk-density modelling using optimal power-transformation of measured physical and chemical soil parameters." Geoderma 314, no. : 205-220.

Journal article
Published: 11 December 2017 in Waste Management
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Large quantities of wood products have historically been disposed of in landfills. The fate of this vast pool of carbon plays an important role in national carbon balances and accurate emission reporting. The Republic of Ireland, like many EU countries, utilises the 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines for greenhouse gas reporting in the waste sector, which provides default factors for emissions estimation. For wood products, the release of carbon is directly proportional to the decomposition of the degradable organic carbon fraction of the product, for which the IPCC provides a value of 0.5 (50%). However, in situ analytic results of the decomposition rates of carbon in landfilled wood do not corroborate this figure; suggesting that carbon emissions are likely overestimated. To assess the impact of this overestimation on emission reporting, carbon decomposition values obtained from literature and the IPCC default factor were applied to the Irish wood fraction of landfilled waste for the years 1957–2016 and compared. Univariate analysis found a statistically significant difference between carbon (methane) emissions calculated using the IPCC default factor and decomposition factors from direct measurements for softwoods (F = 45.362, p = <.001), hardwoods (F = 20.691, p = <.001) and engineered wood products (U = 4.726, p = <.001). However, there was no significant difference between emissions calculated using only the in situ analytic decomposition factors, regardless of time in landfill, location or subsequently, climate. This suggests that methane emissions from the wood fraction of landfilled waste in Ireland could be drastically overestimated; potentially by a factor of 56. The results of this study highlight the implications of emission reporting at a lower tier and prompts further research into the decomposition of wood products in landfills at a national level.

ACS Style

Jean O'Dwyer; Dylan Walshe; Kenneth A. Byrne. Wood waste decomposition in landfills: An assessment of current knowledge and implications for emissions reporting. Waste Management 2017, 73, 181 -188.

AMA Style

Jean O'Dwyer, Dylan Walshe, Kenneth A. Byrne. Wood waste decomposition in landfills: An assessment of current knowledge and implications for emissions reporting. Waste Management. 2017; 73 ():181-188.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jean O'Dwyer; Dylan Walshe; Kenneth A. Byrne. 2017. "Wood waste decomposition in landfills: An assessment of current knowledge and implications for emissions reporting." Waste Management 73, no. : 181-188.

Original paper
Published: 30 May 2017 in Biology and Fertility of Soils
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Using collars for measuring soil respiration and its component fluxes in closed chamber systems relies on two main assumptions. Firstly, it is assumed that shallow collars prevent lateral soil gas leakage beneath the chamber’s walls and the underestimation of soil CO2 fluxes, and secondly, the insertion of deeper collars excises all living roots and the autotrophic flux is eliminated. It was hypothesised that previous findings on collar insertion impacts on autotrophic and total soil respiration also apply to afforested peatlands. In these ecosystems, a large fraction of fine roots grow close to the soil surface. Therefore, the use of shallow collars may sever some fine roots and hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi, and therefore, it may lead to underestimation of total soil respiration. It was also hypothesised that this underestimation may be greater than a possible CO2 leakage from lateral diffusion of soil gas as a result of not using collars. In this study, we measured soil CO2 efflux in a Sitka spruce and a lodgepole pine plantation on blanket peat in southern Ireland. A surface collar (not inserted into the ground) and six insertion depths (5, 10, 15, 25, 35 and 45 cm) were established to assess the effect of the collar insertion depth on autotrophic and total soil respiration. The insertion depth of 5 cm reduced total soil respiration by 47 and 32% in the spruce and pine stands, respectively. Using nonlinear equations, it was estimated that a frequently used shallow insertion of 1.5 cm would have reduced this efflux by 35 and 20% in each stand, respectively. Moreover, it was demonstrated that this reduction was greater than a possible lateral soil gas leakage. These results suggest that the insertion of shallow collars should be avoided and surface collars permanently anchored in the soil should be used instead.

ACS Style

A. Jonay Jovani-Sancho; Thomas Cummins; Kenneth A. Byrne. Collar insertion depth effects on soil respiration in afforested peatlands. Biology and Fertility of Soils 2017, 53, 677 -689.

AMA Style

A. Jonay Jovani-Sancho, Thomas Cummins, Kenneth A. Byrne. Collar insertion depth effects on soil respiration in afforested peatlands. Biology and Fertility of Soils. 2017; 53 (6):677-689.

Chicago/Turabian Style

A. Jonay Jovani-Sancho; Thomas Cummins; Kenneth A. Byrne. 2017. "Collar insertion depth effects on soil respiration in afforested peatlands." Biology and Fertility of Soils 53, no. 6: 677-689.

Journal article
Published: 01 March 2017 in CATENA
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ACS Style

Alina Premrov; Thomas Cummins; Kenneth A. Byrne. Assessing fixed depth carbon stocks in soils with varying horizon depths and thicknesses, sampled by horizon. CATENA 2017, 150, 291 -301.

AMA Style

Alina Premrov, Thomas Cummins, Kenneth A. Byrne. Assessing fixed depth carbon stocks in soils with varying horizon depths and thicknesses, sampled by horizon. CATENA. 2017; 150 ():291-301.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alina Premrov; Thomas Cummins; Kenneth A. Byrne. 2017. "Assessing fixed depth carbon stocks in soils with varying horizon depths and thicknesses, sampled by horizon." CATENA 150, no. : 291-301.

Journal article
Published: 30 November 2013 in Land Use Policy
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Recent decades have seen a rapid increase in the area of privately owned forest plantations in Ireland. This has been largely driven by grant aid and annual premium payments from the government and the European Union. These forests are significant carbon sinks and as such are delivering added benefit to the country by contributing to greenhouse gas reductions under the Kyoto Protocol. The direct impact of government subvention on the net present value (NPV) for a defined forestry plantation is investigated. The added value of carbon sequestration to forestry investment is also examined using the Forestry Commission (Great Britain) carbon model. Extending the typical assumption of a constant carbon price for project appraisal purposes, this paper allows carbon prices to evolve randomly according to a flexible stochastic price process. The model chosen is an extended mean-reverting jump-diffusion with the flexibility to capture the higher order statistical features (i.e. skewness and kurtosis) of the carbon markets. This allows for an analysis of the risk and uncertainty around the NPV from exposure to stochastic carbon prices. It is shown that government grants and annual premiums for afforestation significantly improve the NPV on forestry investment. Carbon sequestration is shown to add further value.

ACS Style

Anthony O’Donnell; Mark Cummins; Kenneth A. Byrne. Forestry in the Republic of Ireland: Government policy, grant incentives and carbon sequestration value. Land Use Policy 2013, 35, 16 -23.

AMA Style

Anthony O’Donnell, Mark Cummins, Kenneth A. Byrne. Forestry in the Republic of Ireland: Government policy, grant incentives and carbon sequestration value. Land Use Policy. 2013; 35 ():16-23.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anthony O’Donnell; Mark Cummins; Kenneth A. Byrne. 2013. "Forestry in the Republic of Ireland: Government policy, grant incentives and carbon sequestration value." Land Use Policy 35, no. : 16-23.