Hybrid Poplar Agroforestry

Our group seeks to understand the energy, water (i.e. water use) and carbon (i.e. carbon sequestration) balance of hybrid poplar (HP) plantations across different soil and climatic regimes within the aspen parkland biome of Canada by using the eddy covariance (EC) method which directly measures sensible heat, H₂O and CO₂ flux between the HP plantations and the atmosphere.

HP09 eddy covariance system after installation near St. Albert, Alberta.

HP plantations established on agricultural land in Canada have the potential to supply renewable sources of high-quality fibre, bio-energy and ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration, domestic grazing, wildlife habitat). Despite HP’s potential there are important questions regarding the social, economic and environmental sustainability of HP plantations. As part of the 2020 Plantation Demonstration and Assessment Initiative started in 2003 by Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Forest Service (NRCAN-CFS) and Canadian Wood fiber Center (CWFC)  began collaboration with private landowners, universities, provincial agencies and industry and sought to assess the viability of establishing HP plantations in Canada on a large-scale. That HP plantations are grown on agricultural lands, which receive low quantities of precipitation, raises questions about HP plantation water use and its effect on local and regional water supplies.

The scaffold tower at HP09.

HP11 eddy covariance system after installation.

In June 2010, north of Edmonton, Alberta, the UBC BIOMET group raised an EC instrumentation tower and began measuring climate and fluxes of sensible heat, H₂O and CO₂  above a HP (Populus deltoides x Populus petrowskyana) plantation (HP09) established on highly productive agricultural land at the northwestern edge of the Canadian aspen parkland biome in fall 2009. A second EC instrumentation tower was raised, northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba, in June 2011 at the southeastern edge of the Canadian aspen parkland biome.