Impacts of the National Forest Rehabilitation Plan and Human-Induced Environmental Changes on the Carbon and Nitrogen Balances of the South Korean Forests

Forests

Florent Noulèkoun¹  Nam-Jin Noh²  Yo-Whan Son³  Hyung-Sub Kim⁴ 

[1] Agroforestry Systems and Ecology Laboratory, Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea;Department of Forest Resources, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea;Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea;Institute of Life Science and Natural Resource, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea;

关键词: modeling;    human activities;    climate change;    air temperature;    CO₂ concentration;    nitrogen deposition;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f12091150

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Humans have affected the carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles in forests; however, the quantification of the responses of forest C and N balances to human activities is limited. In this study, we have quantified the impacts of the long-term national forest rehabilitation plan and the contribution of the increase in air temperature, CO₂ concentration, and N deposition on the C and N balances of the South Korean forests during 1973–2020 by using a biogeochemical model. During the simulation period, the C balance increased from 0.2 to 4.3 Mg C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹, and the N balance increased from 0.2 to 17.4 kg N ha⁻¹ year⁻¹. This resulted in the storage of 825 Tg C and 3.04 Tg N by the whole South Korean forests after the national forest rehabilitation plan. The increase in air temperature, CO₂ concentration, and N deposition contributed −11.5, 17.4, and 177 Tg C to the stored C stock, respectively, and −25.4, 8.90, and 1807 Mg N to the stored N stock, respectively. This study provides references for future forest rehabilitation efforts and broadens our knowledge on the impacts of human-induced environmental changes on the C and N balances of forests.

【 授权许可】

Unknown