Carbon content of below–ground biomass of young Scots pines in Latvia
Laen...
Kuupäev
2017
Kättesaadav alates
Ajakirja pealkiri
Ajakirja ISSN
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Kirjastaja
Abstrakt
Forest ecosystems play crucial role in global carbon cycling, therefore, increasing
afforestation of agricultural land in Europe has been recognized as important contribution of
carbon sequestration. In carbon reporting systems, root carbon content (CC) default value has
been set to 50%. The study aimed to estimate CC in below–ground biomass and in relation to tree
age in young Scots pine stands on forest and former agricultural land. The below–ground CC of
young (8 to 40 years) managed Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands growing on nutrient poor
mineral soils in Latvia was carried out. In total 62 sample trees (43 in forest land, 19 in former
agricultural land) were randomly selected for destructive sampling to estimate the CC within
below–ground biomass. Below–ground biomass weighted mean CC was 49.7 ± 0.4%, being
slightly lower than the default CC value used to calculate carbon budgets. Root fractions stump,
small roots (diameter 2–20 mm), coarse roots (diameter > 20 mm)) differed (p < 0.001) in their
CC. Stumps (50.6 ± 0.6%) had highest (p < 0.001) CC in the below–ground biomass, followed
by coarse (49.5 ± 0.4%) and small (49.1 ± 0.4%) roots, which did not differ from each other in
their CC. Results demonstrated age–dependent increase of CC (p < 0.001) from 48.2 ± 0.3% to
51.7 ± 0.5%, indicating overestimation of the default value during the first two decades, but
underestimation for older trees (24 to 40 years).
Kirjeldus
Article
Märksõnad
root biomass, coarse roots, stump, abandoned agricultural land, articles