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Trade-Offs Among Aboveground, Belowground, and Soil Organic Carbon Stocks Along Altitudinal Gradients in Andean Tropical Montane Forests.

ABSTRACT: Tropical montane forests (TMFs) play an important role as a carbon reservoir at a global scale. However, there is a lack of a comprehensive understanding on the variation in carbon storage across TMF compartments [namely aboveground biomass (AGB), belowground biomass (BGB), and soil organic matter] along altitudinal and environmental gradients and their potential trade-offs. This study aims to: 1) understand how carbon stocks vary along altitudinal gradients in Andean TMFs, and; 2) determine the influence of climate, particularly precipitation seasonality, on the distribution of carbon stocks across different forest compartments. The study was conducted in sixty 0.1 ha plots along two altitudinal gradients at the Podocarpus National Park (Ecuador) and Río Abiseo National Park (Peru). At each plot, we calculated the amount of carbon in AGB (i.e. aboveground carbon stock, AGC), BGB (i.e. belowground carbon stock, BGC), and soil organic matter (i.e. soil organic carbon stock, SOC). The mean total carbon stock was 244.76 ± 80.38 Mg ha-1 and 211.51 ± 46.95 Mg ha-1 in the Ecuadorian and Peruvian plots, respectively. Although AGC, BGC, and SOC showed different partitioning patterns along the altitudinal gradient both in Ecuador and Peru, total carbon stock did not change with altitude in either site. The combination of annual mean temperature and precipitation seasonality explained differences in the observed patterns of carbon stocks across forest compartments between the two sites. This study suggests that the greater precipitation seasonality of colder, higher altitudes may promote faster turnover rates of organic matter and nutrients and, consequently, less accumulation of SOC but greater AGC and BGC, compared to those sites with lesser precipitation seasonality. Our results demonstrate the capacity of TMFs to store substantial amounts of carbon and suggest the existence of a trade-off in carbon stocks among forest compartments, which could be partly driven by differences in precipitation seasonality, especially under the colder temperatures of high altitudes.

SUBMITTER: de la Cruz-Amo L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7062916 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundThe occurrence of climate change at an unprecedented scale has resulted in alterations of ecosystems around the world. Numerous studies have reported on the potential to slow down climate change through the sequestration of carbon in soil and trees. Freshwater wetlands hold significant potential for climate change mitigation owing to their large capacity to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Wetlands among all terrestrial ecosystems have the highest carbon density and are found to store up to three to five times more carbon than terrestrial forests. The current study was undertaken to quantify carbon stocks of two carbon pools: aboveground biomass (AGB) and belowground biomass (BGB). Chosen study sites; Kolonnawa wetland and Thalawathugoda wetland park are distributed within the Colombo wetland complex. Colombo was recognized as one of the 18 global Ramsar wetland cities in 2018. A combination of field measurements and allometric tree biomass regression models was used in the study. Stratification of the project area was performed using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI).ResultsThe AGB carbon stock, across strata, is estimated to be in the range of 13.79?±?3.65-66.49?±?6.70 tC/ha and 8.13?±?2.42-52.63?±?10.00 tC/ha at Kolonnawa wetland and Thalawathugoda wetland park, respectively. The BGB carbon stock is estimated to be in the range of 2.47?±?0.61-10.12?±?0.89 tC/ha and 1.56?±?0.41-8.17?±?1.39 tC/ha at Kolonnawa wetland and Thalawathugoda wetland park, respectively. The total AGB carbon stock of Kolonnawa wetland was estimated at 19,803?±?1566 tCO2eq and that of Thalawathugoda wetland park was estimated at 4180?±?729 tCO2eq.ConclusionsIn conclusion, the study reveals that tropical freshwater wetlands contain considerable potential as carbon reservoirs. The study suggests the use of tropical freshwater wetlands in carbon sequestration enhancement plans in the tropics. The study also shows that Annona glabra, an invasive alien species (IAS), has the potential to enhance the net sink of AGB carbon in these non-mangrove wetlands. However, further studies are essential to confirm if enhanced carbon sequestration by Annona glabra is among the unexplored and unreported benefits of the species.

Project description:The Paris Agreement promotes forest management as a pathway towards halting climate warming through the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions1. However, the climate benefits from carbon sequestration through forest management may be reinforced, counteracted or even offset by concurrent management-induced changes in surface albedo, land-surface roughness, emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds, transpiration and sensible heat flux2-4. Consequently, forest management could offset CO2 emissions without halting global temperature rise. It therefore remains to be confirmed whether commonly proposed sustainable European forest-management portfolios would comply with the Paris Agreement-that is, whether they can reduce the growth rate of atmospheric CO2, reduce the radiative imbalance at the top of the atmosphere, and neither increase the near-surface air temperature nor decrease precipitation by the end of the twenty-first century. Here we show that the portfolio made up of management systems that locally maximize the carbon sink through carbon sequestration, wood use and product and energy substitution reduces the growth rate of atmospheric CO2, but does not meet any of the other criteria. The portfolios that maximize the carbon sink or forest albedo pass only one-different in each case-criterion. Managing the European forests with the objective of reducing near-surface air temperature, on the other hand, will also reduce the atmospheric CO2 growth rate, thus meeting two of the four criteria. Trade-off are thus unavoidable when using European forests to meet climate objectives. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that if present-day forest cover is sustained, the additional climate benefits achieved through forest management would be modest and local, rather than global. On the basis of these findings, we argue that Europe should not rely on forest management to mitigate climate change. The modest climate effects from changes in forest management imply, however, that if adaptation to future climate were to require large-scale changes in species composition and silvicultural systems over Europe5,6, the forests could be adapted to climate change with neither positive nor negative climate effects.

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Project description:Natural forests in inland China are generally distributed in montane area and secondary due to a semi-arid climate and past anthropogenic disturbances. However, quantification of carbon (C) stock in these forests and the role of altitude in determining C storage and its partition among ecosystem components are unclear. We sampled 54 stands of three secondary coniferous forests (Larix principis-rupprechtii (LP) forest, Picea meyerii (PM) forest and Pinus tabulaeformis (PT) forest) on Loess Plateau in an altitudinal range of 1200-2700m a.s.l. C stocks of tree layer, shrub layer, herb layer, coarse wood debris, forest floor and soil were estimated. We found these forests had relatively high total C stocks. Driven by both higher vegetation and soil C stocks, total C stocks of LP and PM forests in the high altitudinal range were 375.0 and 368.4 t C ha-1 respectively, significantly higher than that of PT forest in the low altitudinal range (230.2 t C ha-1). In addition, understory shrubs accounted for about 20% of total biomass in PT forest. The proportions of vegetation to total C stock were similar among in the three forests (below 45%), so were the proportions of soil C stock (over 54%). Necromass C stocks were also similar among these forests, but their proportions to total C stock were significantly lower in LP and PM forests (1.4% and 1.6%) than in PT forest (3.0%). Across forest types, vegetation biomass and soil C stock simultaneously increased with increasing altitude, causing fairly unchanged C partitioning among ecosystem components along the altitudinal gradient. Soil C stock also increased with altitude in LP and PT forests. Forest floor necromass decreased with increasing altitude across the three forests. Our results suggest the important role of the altitudinal gradient in C sequestration and floor necromass of these three forests in terms of alleviated water conditions and in soil C storage of LP and PM forests in terms of temperature change.

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Trade-Offs Among Aboveground, Belowground, and Soil Organic Carbon Stocks Along Altitudinal Gradients in Andean Tropical Montane Forests.

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