Introduction to Chemicology

ReadAttempting to comprehend the full value of nature, the chemecologist realizes that the tree after death supports as much life during the decay cycle as it does during the living time. The value to cavity dwellers and insect populations as shelter and food are two simple examples.
ThisOn a molecular level, the real value of nature resides in functionalization chemistry – making more complex compounds out of simple organic building blocks. This process is enabled by inorganic trace mineral nutrients. These substances must be present at an absolute minimum level, but once each is not the limiting agent, then getting the element into the proper chemical form to be functional is biologically relevant. As active sites of chemical activity in enzymes go down due to physical blockage of a bio-pathway, then other sites pick up the slack to enable that function via an alternate route.
ReadWhen enough pathways are closed and there is not a ready reservoir of the catalytic metal materials, disturbance ecology comes into play. The chemical ecosystem functions by substitution of lesser ability metals at a much slower rate, or shuts down completely. A predatory biologic disturbance that functions during a time of disrepair can co-opt the chemically functional portions of the working system, at a cellular level. The built in redundancy of nature assures that the process of generating useful starting materials for cyclic synthetic process comes from both the decaying of old structural material and the photosynthetic incorporation of new carbon material.
ThisOld modes of thinking – burning slash and removing 98% of the wood fiber, deplete the ecosystem of the most richly processed carbon and require more demand on the readily available CO2 + H2O à cellulose pathways. The bulk non-metals Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Sulfur tend to be replaced by gross overkill fertilization of the readily available chemical form. The current agri-forestry fertilization has both nitrogen and phosphorus in damaging chemical form for tree metabolism.
ReadWhen nitrogen is available solely as nitrate or ammonia (urea), it cannot be properly fixed by most tree species. In areas where fires have burnt hot, cianothus and alder, nitrogen fixing trees, are amongst the first trees to grow in an un-replanted stand. The bulk of fertilizer is not biologically available where it is spread, but runs off in the storm water into rivers where it enables the production of algae.
ThisPhosphorus, as phosphate, is the key limiting non-metal limiting agent in biological systems. It’s presence in excess causes indiscriminate plant growth. One key for healthy forests would be to start with the less chemically available phosphate and grow legumes as ground cover and acacias, alders, cianothus and other nitrogen fixers to enrich the soil as a carbon/nitrogen sink for several years prior to replanting with conifer or hardwood species.
ReadWhen considering the mass balance of the trace transition metals, regenerative harvest rapidly removes the readily available micronutrients from the soils. These minerals are slowly added to the tree over the years via the symbiotic relationships between lichen in the air and fungi in the soil with the tree. Trees donate sugars that provide molecular scaffolding to the partner symbiot.
ThisThe insects of the world – both terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates - do the yeoman’s work to scatter metal ions throughout biological systems, using the entire food chain for lateral distribution. Soil enhancement with a range of micronutrients in proper chemical form should enable carbon accumulation at an enhanced rate, provided that the limiting agent is provided to the system. The increase would be by a fixed amount, based on the quantity of new limiting agent available to the chemical ecosystem.
ReadProper preparation of stands to make micronutrients available to tree species in the formative years of growth should lead to increases in both new carbon accumulation and old carbon refunctionalization with reincorporation into higher order (and hence higher value) carbon species. This additional growth should qualify for funding through the Oregon Climate Exchange for development of sequestration methods.