Soil organic carbon content and stocks in an age-sequence of Metasequoia glyptostroboides plantations in coastal area, East China

Abstract

Abstract. Information on soil organic carbon (SOC) content and stocks is not available in coastal shelter forests, East China, although a large area of forests has been established there in the past 30 years. Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) is one of the most commonly tree species for shelter plantation in eastern coasts of China, but it is unknown on the temporal distribution of SOC content and stock in the M. glyptostroboides plantations. In this study, SOC contents and stocks, and soil properties were determined in an age-sequence (23, 27, and 33 years old) of M. glyptostroboides plantations in Shanghai, East China. SOC content and stocks increased gradually with the increasing stand age, and the total SOC stocks in the depth of 0-100 cm increased by 53.20% with stand age from 23 to 33 years stand. Meanwhile, SOC showed good relationships with soil physical properties (such as soil particle composition) and chemical properties (such as soil nitrogen and potassium concentrations). Our results indicate that afforestation with M. glyptostroboides can promote SOC content and stocks and improve nutrient conditions in coastal lands, and provide data for estimating ecosystem carbon stocks of coastal shelter forests in China.

Enhancement of Soil Organic Carbon by Acacia Mangium Afforestation in Southeastern Region, Vietnam

“…Thus, minor changes in the C reservoir of forest soil will dramatically influence the global C balance, which impacts global climate change (Albaladejo et al, 2013). The SOC is principally determined by the balance between C inputs through litterfall and root turnover and loss of C primarily through organic matter decomposition, which processes are controlled by various environmental variables, including vegetation biomass (Wang et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2018) and soil physicochemical properties such as soil N (Batjes, 1996;Cong et al, 2016), soil texture (Jobbágy and Jackson, 2000;Liu et al, 2016), soil P (Zu et al, 2011;, soil K (Zu et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2016), soil pH (Robson and Foy, 1990;Thomas, 1996;Chen et al, 2004), and soil BD (Hobley et al, 2015;Ngaba et al, 2020). Hence, understanding the SOC storage dynamics and the factors that control this process in forest ecosystems is critical for better C budget management and climate change mitigation options.…”