Organic carbon in the plant biomass of forests in Kyiv region

Abstract

The carbon capacity of forest phytocenoses serves as one of the basic criteria for potential opportunities to ensure low-carbon development of the country and fulfil international obligations in the context of the Paris climate agreement. The information base of the study was information from the database of the Ukrainian State Forest Management Planning Association, which contains a specific tax characteristic of stands in the Kyiv region, and a system of mathematical models for quantitative assessment of phytomass and mortmass of forests. As a result, quantitative values of organic carbon volumes in phytomass and mortmass of forests of the Kyiv region and Kyiv city are established. The total amount of carbon accumulated in the plant biomass of the region’s forests is 61.8 million tonnes, of which 60% is accounted for by pine stands. The share of carbon accumulated in the mortar of forests of the Kyiv region is 10.5%. The highest density of deposited carbon per unit area is characterised by ash and oak stands with indicators of 10,08 and 9,921 kg*(m2)-1 accordingly. More than 40% of organic carbon is accumulated in the plant biomass of bonitet class I stands, which mainly grow in relatively poor forest conditions (barrens). Recreational-protective forests of the region have the highest organic carbon densities per unit area – 10.53 and 10.49 kg*(m2)-1 accordingly. Among the objects of the nature reserve fund, the dominant positions in terms of the volume of the indicator under study belong to nature reserves – 82.7% and about 8% is accounted for by national nature parks. In the total carbon structure of mortmass (6.5 million tonnes), more than 60% is forest litter. Therewith, the carbon content of mortmass plantings of coniferous tree species is 4.1 million tonnes or 62.9%. The results obtained in the course of the study will serve as an information basis for forming a strategy for regional low-carbon development

Keywords

• biomass
• carbon
• sequestration
• environmental monitoring
• dead organic matter
• stand
• live biomass