Variation of Soil Organic Carbon Density with Plantation Age and Initial Vegetation Types in the Liupan Mountains Areas of Northwest China

Ziyou Zhang; Jianbin Guo; Yanhui Wang; Pengtao Yu; Xiao Wang

doi:10.3390/f12121811

Forests (Dec 2021)

Variation of Soil Organic Carbon Density with Plantation Age and Initial Vegetation Types in the Liupan Mountains Areas of Northwest China

Ziyou Zhang,
Jianbin Guo,
Yanhui Wang,
Pengtao Yu,
Xiao Wang

Affiliations

Ziyou Zhang: Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Jianbin Guo: Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Yanhui Wang: Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Nature Conservation, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
Pengtao Yu: Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Nature Conservation, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
Xiao Wang: Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Nature Conservation, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/f12121811
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 12, no. 12
p. 1811

Abstract

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Carbon sequestration of plantations formed by three kinds of forestation (natural forest to plantation (NP), grassland to plantation (GP), and cropland to plantation (CP)) greatly depends on the change of soil organic carbon density (SOCD) compared with its initial SOCD before forestation. However, this dependence was rarely studied, especially in semi-humid/arid regions with strong site variation. This limits the precise assessment and management of SOCD. Therefore, the SOCD variations of 0–100 cm soil layers in these three kinds of plantations were studied in the semi-humid/arid Liupan Mountains in northwestern China. The NP with high initial SOCD showed firstly a decrease and then an increase of SOCD up to 293.2 t·ha−1 at 40 years. The CP and GP with low and relatively high initial SOCD showed negligible and slight SOCD decrease after forestation, but then an increase up to 154.5 and 266.5 t·ha−1 at 40 years. After detecting the main factors influencing SOCD for each forestation mode, statistic relationships were fitted for predicting SOCD variation. This study indicates that besides forest age and biomass growth, the effects of initial vegetation, site-dependent initial SOCD, and SOCD capacity, also precipitation and air temperature in some cases, should be considered for more precise assessment and management of SOCD of plantations.

Published in Forests

ISSN: 1999-4907 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science: Botany: Plant ecology
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests/

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