Soil Carbon Storage and Turnover in Temperate Forests and Grasslands-A New Zealand Perspective

Carbon storage in grasslands of China

“…The importance of temperate grassland carbon storage is well known (e.g. Thronley et al, 1991;Hall et al, 1995;Tate et al, 1995;Sala et al, 1996), but the importance of alpine carbon storage is less appreciated. In grassland ecosystems carbon is stored mostly in soils, where C turnover times of the bulk soil carbon are relatively long Tate et al, 1995;Matthews, 1997).…”

“…Tans et al, 1990). Therefore, the role of grasslands, with large area both in tropics and in temperate regions, should not be overlooked in global biogeochemical cycles (Hall & Scurlock, 1991;Thornley et al, 1991;Parton et al, 1993Parton et al, , 1995Fisher et al, 1994Fisher et al, , 1995Hall et al, 1995;Tate et al, 1995;Scurlock & Hall, 1998).…”

“…Carbon storage and carbon sinks in the vegetation and soils of grasslands in temperate and tropical regions were previously studied based upon different data and methods at a regional to global scale, particularly within the context of global change (e.g. Lieth, 1978;Hall & Scurlock, 1991;Long & Hutchin, 1991;Thornley et al, 1991;Parton et al, 1993Parton et al, , 1995Fisher et al, 1994Fisher et al, , 1995Hall et al, 1995;Tate et al, 1995;Scurlock & Hall, 1998). However, carbon storage may have been underestimated, especially in the soils and in the tropics (Scurlock & Hall, 1998).…”

Carbon storage in the grasslands of China based on field measurements of above- and below-ground biomass

“…It is coincidental that the median value of 3.06 Pg C for the vegetation carbon storage of the grasslands of China emphasized by Ni (2002) approaches the 3.32 Pg C storage derived from our study ( Table 5). The median storage value given by Ni (2002) should be increased by 9.6% to adjust for the increased area we use to estimate carbon storage to give an estimate of 3.35 Pg C. The importance of carbon storage by temperate grasslands has been widely affirmed (Thornley et al 1991;Hall et al 1995;Tate et al 1995;Sala et al 1996), but, as stated by Ni (2002), the importance of carbon storage in alpine grasslands has not been sufficiently emphasized. Our estimates indicate that 56.4% of the carbon stored in grassland vegetation in China is contained in the alpine grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau of which 68.2% is in alpine meadow.…”

Effect of warming on extracted soil carbon pools of Abies faxoniana forest at two elevations

“…Moreover, many previous studies have showed that there is a real need for additional data on soil dynamics, because there is relatively little knowledge of C turnover at local and regional scales (Tate et al, 1995;Gaudinski et al, 2000;Bird et al, 2002;Garten and Hanson, 2006). Garten (2011) suggested that warming decreases soil C turnover time and declines the decomposition rate of SOM along increasing elevation in southern Appalachian Mountains.…”