Carbon Storage in a Eucalyptus Plantation Chronosequence in Southern China

Forests

Hu Du¹  Fuping Zeng¹  Wanxia Peng¹  Kelin Wang¹  Hao Zhang¹  Lu Liu¹  Tongqing Song¹  Reynaldo Campos Santana² 

[1] Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China; E-Mails:Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China;

关键词: biomass;    carbon allocation;    Eucalyptus plantation;    southern China;    stand age;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f6061763

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Patterns of carbon (C) allocation across different stages of stand development in Eucalyptus urophylla × E. grandis plantations are not well understood. In this study, we examined biomass and mineral soil C content in five development stages (1, 2, 3, 4–5, and 6–8 years old) of a Eucalyptus stand in southern China. The tree biomass C pool increased with stand age and showed a high annual rate of accumulation. Stems accounted for the highest proportion of biomass C sequestered. The C pool in mineral soil increased initially after afforestation and then declined gradually, with C density decreasing with soil depth. The upper 50 cm of soil contained the majority (57%–68%) of sequestered C. The other biomass components (shrubs, herbaceous plants, litter, and fine roots) accounted for <5% of the total ecosystem C pool. Total C pools in the Eucalyptus plantation ecosystem were 112.9, 172.5, 203.8, 161.1, and 162.7 Mg ha⁻¹ in the five developmental stages, respectively, with most of the C sequestered below ground. We conclude that Eucalyptus plantations have considerable biomass C sequestration potential during stand development.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.