Terrestrial Carbon Information System (TerraC)

Collaborators: T. Martin

Institutions: University of Florida

Funding Agency: National Institute for Climatic Change Research

Status: Funded

Abstract: Rising CO2 emissions in the atmosphere and effects on global climate change have been well documented, and future impacts are uncertain but potentially devastating. Florida's natural and agro-forest ecosystems have much potential to sequester carbon in biomass and soils due to unique climatic and landscape conditions. However, research gaps exist to accurately assess carbon pools and fluxes at coarse scales, ranging from county to the region and larger. The overarching objective of this project is to address these obstacles by creating a database infrastructure for the carbon science community, focused on ecosystems in Florida and the southeastern United States. The database will be administered through the UF Carbon Resources Science Center, a multi-disciplinary Center dedicated to research in support of enhanced agricultural and natural resource carbon management. In addition to applied research, basic research remains necessary to quantify carbon pools and fluxes for many ecosystems, and to understand how perturbations such as land use change or climatic factors impact carbon balance.

The Florida Climate Institute (FCI) is a multi-disciplinary network of national and international research and public organizations, scientists, and individuals concerned with achieving a better understanding of climate variability and change.