Variation in biomass and carbon storage by stand age in pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) planted ecosystem in Mt. Taiyue, Shanxi, China

Abstract

Forest ecosystems play dominant roles in global carbon budget because of the large quantities stored in live biomass, detritus, and soil organic matter. Researchers in various countries have investigated regional and continental scale patterns of carbon (C) stocks in forest ecosystems; however, the relationship between stand age in different components (vegetation, forest floor detritus, and mineral soil) and C storage and sequestration remains poorly understood. In this paper, we assessed an age sequence of 18-, 20-, 25-, 38-, and 42-year-old Pinus tabulaeformis planted by analyzing the vertical distribution of different components biomass with similar site conditions on Mt. Taiyue, Shanxi, China. The results showed that biomass of P. tabulaeformis planted stands was ranged from 88.59 Mg ha −1 for the 25-year-old stand to 231.05 Mg ha −1 for the 42-year-old stand and the major biomass was in the stems. Biomass of the ground vegetation varied from 0.51 to 1.35 Mg C ha −1 between the five stands. The forest floor biomass increased with increasing stand age. The mean C concentration of total tree was 49.94%, which was higher than C concentrations of ground vegetation and forest floor. Different organs of trees C concentration were between 54.14% and 47.74%. C concentrations stored in the mineral soil for each stand experienced decline with increasing soil depth, but were ageindependent. Total C storage of five planted forests ranged from 122.15 to 229.85 Mg C ha, of which 51.44-68.38% of C storage was in the soil and 28.46-45.21% in vegetation. The study provided not only with an estimation biomass of P. tabulaeformis planted forest in Mt. Taiyue, Shanxi, China, but also with accurately estimating forest C storage at ecosystem scale.

Soil organic carbon and total nitrogen stocks under different land uses in a hilly ecological restoration area of North China

“…where W is the biomass and a, b were constant (Cheng et al, 2014). Furthermore, the biomass of shrubs and herbs were estimated through destructive sampling in three evenly distributed squares of 5 m  5 m and 1 m  1 m of each plot, respectively.…”

“…The tree biomass of P. Tabuliformis stands was calculated by using the allometric equations proposed by Cheng et al (2014). A total of 19 trees were sampled according to the range of diameter at breast height (DBH) (6.1-20.7 cm) class distribution using the destructive method.…”

Biomass Accumulation and Carbon Sequestration in an Age-Sequence of Mongolian Pine Plantations in Horqin Sandy Land, China

“…Stand age, as a critical factor affecting the above processes, has been considered in the study of carbon reservoirs in plantations. In most cases, the growth of a planted forest is an incremental process of biomass and carbon stock accumulation, with a higher accumulation rate in early stages [20,21]. Age also plays an important role in the distribution of ecosystem biomass and carbon.…”

“…In addition, age-specific equations are strongly recommended for determining the biomass of tree branches and foliage because the biomass of tree crown parts could be heavily influenced by age [13,14,22]. For changes in the soil carbon stock with age, different studies have shown that soil carbon stocks are age-independent [20,23], increase with age increment [14,22] or show an initial decline followed by an increase [21,24]. One possible explanation for this inconsistency is that, in addition to stand age, many other factors influence soil carbon, such as climate, soil properties, forest type and previous land use.…”

A comparison of the effects of natural vegetation regrowth with a plantation scheme on soil structure in a geological hazard‐prone region

“…The density of biomass and the height of natural vegetation were estimated by destructive sampling in three evenly distributed quadrats (1 m × 1 m) in each plot, whereas those properties in the plantation in the field over three plots (5 m × 5 m) were estimated using the allometric formula. The relation between the biomass of each organ of a tree ( W ), breast height (DBH) and tree height ( H ) is established by a logarithmic regression equation (Equation 1 Cheng, Han, Kang, Song, & Liu, ): where a = −1.659 and b = 2.335 are constants.…”