Effects of traditional forest management on carbon storage in a Mediterranean holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) coppice

Abstract

In the last decade, there has been increased interest in measuring and modeling storage in the five forest carbon pools: the aboveground and belowground biomass (living biomass), the deadwood and litter (dead biomass), and the soil (soil organic matter). In this paper, we examined carbon storage in a holm oak coppice stand in the Madonie Mountains in Sicily (Italy), which is a typical case of managed coppice stands. Today, traditional coppice practices are only applied to a small number of forested areas in Sicily, such as the selected site, because of the decline in demand for wood and charcoal. The dendrometric parameters of the stands were recorded, and silvicultural indices were calculated immediately after cutting as well as during and at the end of the rotation period; they showed the trends typical of coppices. The carbon stocks in the five carbon pools were quantified to investigate the effects of coppicing on carbon storage in this Mediterranean area. Results showed that the lowest living biomass values were observed in the first years following coppicing, except for litter carbon. Belowground biomass and the soil carbon stock did not vary significantly with coppicing. During the rotation period, the aboveground biomass was completely restored, and the balance of the carbon stocks indicates that coppicing is a sustainable forest management choice from the point of view of the carbon balance, given that the logged trees are generally used for bioenergy production.Citation: Sferlazza S, Maetzke FG, Iovino M, Baiamonte G, Palmeri V, La Mela Veca DS (2018). Effects of traditional forest management on carbon storage in a Mediterranean holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) coppice.

Carbon stock increases up to old growth forest along a secondary succession in Mediterranean island ecosystems

“…In the upper soil layers, it almost doubled from HMA to OGF stage, reaching 3 g kg -1 . Such final value is quite high in the context of Mediterranean holm oak forests, where it ranges from 0.16 g kg -1 to 2.9 g kg -1 [41,43–45]. In the upper soil layers, the C/N soil ratio slightly increased from 8.7 (HMA) to 9.8 (OGF), thus approximating the lower limit of Mediterranean Quercus ilex ecosystems, where this ratio ranges from 11 to about 22 [41,43,44].…”

The efficiency of LiDAR HMLS scanning in monitoring forest structure parameters: implications for sustainable forest management

“…, 2019; Valbuena et al. , 2016), monitor the health and structural status of old-growth forests (Sferlazza et al. , 2018, 2022; Spracklen and Spracklen, 2019; Badalamenti et al.…”

“…Until today, scholars have explored the viability and effectiveness of modern technologies to acquire data with imagery, which can aid forest management with inventory, monitoring, and evaluating (Wang et al, 2021). Some of these studies used remote sensing tools, such as LiDAR technology or other laser scanning technologies, to investigate key forest parameters useful in identifying different types of Scanning forests using LiDAR HMLS forests (Almeida et al, 2019;Valbuena et al, 2016), monitor the health and structural status of old-growth forests (Sferlazza et al, 2018(Sferlazza et al, , 2022Spracklen and Spracklen, 2019;Badalamenti et al, 2018), monitor changes in the forest ecosystem (Fu et al, 2021;Dubayah et al, 2010) and verify the usefulness of the adopted technology compared to alternative tools (Camarretta et al, 2020;Chen et al, 2019). As demonstrated in numerous empirical studies, LiDAR technology offers innumerable advantages linked to the possibility of deriving, through vertical and spatial measures of the canopy, specific structural forest attributes (Almeida et al, 2019;Hilker et al, 2010).…”

Forest accessibility, Madonie mountains (northern Sicily, Italy): implementing a GIS decision support system

“…The territory is characterized by naturalistic and hydrogeological restrictions, since it hosts the Madonie Regional Nature Park, a Regional Nature Reserve and 16 Sites of Community Importance under Habitat Directive. Since the end-1980s, when the Madonie Regional Nature Park established, forest management has relied on the conservation of biodiversity as a primary objective with silvicultural activities as the secondary goal (Sferlazza et al, 2018…”