INFLUENCE OF VEGETATION ON SOIL CARBON STOCKS IN FORESTS (REVIEW)

Abstract

Existing estimates of carbon stocks in taiga and coniferous-broadleaf forests show that almost half of the total organic carbon in these ecosystems is accumulated in forest soils. Vegetation as the main source of organic matter in the soil interacts with soil biota, which processes plant litter, and, with abiotic environmental factors, determines the processes of formation and accumulation of soil organic matter. Changes in the composition of vegetation are the driver of the dynamics of soil carbon stocks; however, insufficient attention has been paid to the analysis of this issue. This review analyzes the main ways of transferring carbon from the vegetation pool to the soil pool and the influence of three main predictors of vegetation that affect the carbon stock in soils: the amount and quality of litter of individual plant species (species identity) and the structural diversity of the plant community; it identifies gaps in knowledge and proposes some ways of developing this field of research.

Keywords

• vegetation
• soil organic horizon
• soil
• carbon stock
• litter quality
• litter amount
• interbiogeocenotic heterogeneity
• intrabiogeocenotic heterogeneity