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Project title

Identification of grassland management and land-use change using high resolution spatial databases

Primary Funding Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

n/a

Lead Organisation

University of Dublin, Trinity College (TCD)

Lead Applicant

Jesko Zimmermann

Project Abstract

Recent research has shown the importance of grassland management on carbon dynamics and its capability to act as a sink or source for atmospheric CO2. As the major land-use in Ireland grassland related emissions require special attention, however, currently there is no break down nationally to grassland type or utilisation. Furthermore, the recording of land-use change from and to grassland, as well as between different management categories is based on CSO data, with no direct information on the trajectory of change, methods to estimate land-use change trajectories have a high uncertainty. These uncertainties will ultimately lead to possible errors in the national greenhouse gas budget. The proposed research aims to develop accurate, cost-efficient tools to assess grassland management techniques on a large scale, as well as to map land-use change. The process will comprise the identification of GHG relevant grassland management types, identify environmental and socio-economic factors that influence the distribution of grassland management types, and the development of models estimate grassland management on the earlier identified factors. In a second model will be developed to identify changes in grassland management. The tools will be based on LPIS and will therefore estimate land-use on a parcel scale.

Grant Approved

�63,537.60

Research Hub

Climate Change

Research Theme

Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Sinks, and Management Systems

Start Date

01/01/2013

Initial Projected Completion Date

31/12/2013