Course: BFM 101 Biofuels Fundamentals

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Wildlife Habitat and Biodiversity

Bioenergy and biomass crops are often promoted by environmentalists and government leaders as having the potential to provide tremendous amounts of wildlife habitat and to support biodiversity.  Several important studies provide evidence of the negative impacts of first generation biofuel on wildlife and biodiversity (e.g., [1]; [2]) while others provide evidence that biopower and second generation biofuels have positive effects on wildlife and biodiversity (e.g., [2]; [3]; [4]).  However, policies to outline environmental standards for bioenergy production are lacking, and financial programs for compensating land owners and farmers for habitat- and biodiversity-protecting land practices are also lacking.  Most significantly, land conversion could decrease native habitats, reduce biodiversity and decrease ecosystem services.  Key issues are habitat loss and fragmentation with expanding corn and soybean acres; loss of Conservation Reserve Program land; persistence of pesticides in the environment associated with conventional row crops; timing of harvest of perennial crops and forests; and impacts to water quality associated with agricultural run-off.

Figure 3.5 (left) Global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions broken into eight sectors for the year 2000. (Image created by Robert A. Rohde, Global Warming Art.http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/File:Greenhouse_Gas_by_Sector_png.)

Figure 3.6. (right) The carbon cycle and biofuels: carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere is taken up by plants and converted into plant tissues.  Plants are harvested and converted into fuels which are burned, releasing CO2 into the atmosphere where it becomes available again for plants.  However, instead of a “closed loop,” as depicted here, emissions of CO2 from conversion of untilled soil and emissions from use of fossil fuels in fertilizer production and diesel use in farm equipment can increase the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide from bioenergy systems rather reduce it. (U.S. DOE.)

Resources provided by the eXtension Farm Energy Community of Practice at http://www.extension.org/ag+energy

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