Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Ecosystem carbon stock across a chronosequence of spruce plantations established on cutovers of a high-elevation region

  • 2015 International Symposium on Forest Soils
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

This study quantified the above- and belowground carbon (C) stocks across a chronosequence of spruce (Picea asperata) plantations established on cutovers and explored the turning point after which the increase in biomass C slowed or biomass C decreased for guiding forest management.

Materials and methods

We assessed above- and belowground plant biomass stocks at 11 sites in three regions, representing 12- to 46-year-old spruce plantations established on clear-cut areas in the eastern Tibetan Plateau, China. Biomass and C stocks of trees, understory vegetation, and forest floor litter were determined from plot-level inventories and destructive sampling. Fine root (<2 mm) biomass and mineral soil organic C (SOC) stock were estimated from soil cores. Tree biomass was quantified using allometric equations based on diameter at breast height (DBH) and height (H).

Results and discussion

Plant biomass C stocks in spruce plantations rapidly increased from 12 to 20 years at a rate of 7.8 Mg C ha−1 year−1, but decreased from 25 to 46 years at a rate of 0.79 Mg C ha−1 year−1. SOC stocks in spruce plantations gradually decreased from 12 to 46 years at a rate of 4.4 Mg C ha−1 year−1. Total C stock in the ecosystem remained unchanged for the first 20 years after the planting of spruce on cutovers, because the buildup of C stock in spruce biomass during the first 20 years was offset by the decrease in SOC. From 21 to 46 years after the reforestation, ecosystem C stock even decreased at a rate of 5.2 Mg C ha−1 year−1. The contribution of the understory vegetation, forest floor litter, and fine root to ecosystem C stock was low (<5.0 %) in the spruce plantations.

Conclusions

Ecosystem C stock in the spruce forest established on the cutover in the eastern Tibetan Plateau was related to stand age. During the first 20 years, this ecosystem was C neutral. However, aged (20–46 years) spruce plantation ecosystem can be a C source if no management was implemented to revitalize tree growth, promote understory vegetation, and enhance SOC accumulation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alaback PB (1982) Dynamics of understory biomass in Sitka spruce-western hemlock forests of southeast Alaska. Ecology 63:1932–1948

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arevalo CBM, Bhatti JS, Chang SX, Sidders D (2011) Land use change effects on ecosystem carbon balance: from agricultural to hybrid poplar plantation. Agr Ecosyst Environ 141:342–349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonner MTL, Schmidt S, Shoo LP (2013) A meta-analytical global comparison of aboveground biomass accumulation between tropical secondary forests and monoculture plantations. Forest Ecol Manag 291:73–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouriaud O, Ştefan G, Flocea M (2013) Predictive models of forest logging residues in Romanian spruce and beech forests. Biomass Bioenerg 54:59–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chinese Soil Taxonomy Research Group, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (1995) Chinese Soil Taxonomy (Revised Proposal) (in Chinese). Chinese Agricultural Science and Technology Press, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Duan W, Ren H, Fu S, Wang J, Zhang J, Yang L, Huang C (2010) Community comparison and determinant analysis of understory vegetation in six plantations in south China. Restor Ecol 18:206–214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Editoral Group of Observation and Investigation for Carbon Sequestration in Terrestrial Ecosystems (EGOICSTE) (2015) Observation and investigation for carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems. Science Press, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang J, Chen A, Peng C, Zhao S, Ci L (2001) Changes in forest biomass carbon storage in China between 1949 and 1998. Science 292:2320–2322

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fang ZQ, Bao WK, Yan XL, Liu X (2014) Understory structure and vascular plant diversity in naturally regenerated deciduous forests and spruce plantations on similar clear-cuts: implications for forest regeneration strategy selection. Forests 5:715–743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finér L, Mannerkoski H, Piirainen S, Starr M (2003) Carbon and nitrogen pools in an old-growth, Norway spruce mixed forest in eastern Finland and changes associated with clear-cutting. Forest Ecol Manag 174:51–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2010) Global forest resources assessment 2010. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Available at: http://www.fao.org/forestry/fra/fra2010/en/. Accessed February 7, 2012

    Google Scholar 

  • Forrester DI, Bauhus J, Khanna PK (2004) Growth dynamics in a mixed-species plantation of Eucalyptus globulus and Acacia mearnsii. Forest Ecol Manag 193:81–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez M, Augusto L, Gallet-Budynek A, Xue J, Yauschew-Raguenes N, Guyon D, Trichet P, Delerue F, Niollet S, Andreasson F, Achat DL, Bakker MR (2013) Contribution of understory species to total ecosystem aboveground and belowground biomass in temperate Pinus pinaster Ait. forests. Forest Ecol Manag 289:38–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gower ST (2003) Patterns and mechanisms of the forest carbon cycle. Annu Rev Mater Sci 28:169–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Grigal DF, Berguson WE (1998) Soil carbon changes associated with short-rotation systems. Biomass Bioenergy 14:371–377

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • He H, Qiao Y, Liu Q, Wu Y, Lin B (2004) Dynamics of biomass and stem volume of picea asperata stands in artificial restoration process of subalpine coniferous forest. Chin J Appl Ecol 15:748–752

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiltbrunner D, Zimmermann S, Hagedorn F (2013) Afforestation with Norway spruce on a subalpine pasture alters carbon dynamics but only moderately affects soil carbon storage. Biogeochemistry 115:251–266

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Houghton RA (2005) Aboveground forest biomass and the global carbon balance. Global Change Biol 11:945–958

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang L, Liu J, Shao Q, Xu X (2012) Carbon sequestration by forestation across China: past, present, and future. Renew Sust Energ Rev 16:1291–1299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2014) Climate change 2014: mitigation of climate change. In: Edenhofer O, Pichs-Madruga R, Sokona Y, Farahani E, Kadner S, Seyboth K, Adler A, Baum I, Brunner S, Eickemeier P, Kriemann B, Savolainen J, Schlöer S, von Stechow C, Zwickel T, Minx JC (eds) Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • IUSS Working Group WRB (2007) World reference base for soil resources 2006, first update 2007, World Soil Resources Reports No. 103, FAO, Rome

  • Jandl R, Lindner M, Vesterdal L, Bauwens B, Baritz R, Hagedorn F, Johnson DW, Minkkinen K, Byrne KA (2007) How strongly can forest management influence soil carbon sequestration? Geoderma 137:253–268

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang FY, Sun H, Lin B, Liu Q (2009) Dynamic changes of topsoil organic carbon in subalpine spruce plantation at different succession stages in western Sichuan Province. Chin J Appl Ecol 20:2581–2587 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kaarakka L, Tamminen P, Saarsalmi A, Kukkola M, Helmisaari H-S, Burton AJ (2014) Effects of repeated whole-tree harvesting on soil properties and tree growth in a Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) stand. Forest Ecol Manag 313:180–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kraenzel M, Castillo A, Moore T, Potvin C (2003) Carbon storage of harvest-age teak (Tectona grandis) plantations, Panama. Forest Ecol Manag 173:213–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laganière J, Angers DA, Paré D (2010) Carbon accumulation in agricultural soils after afforestation: a meta-analysis. Global Change Biol 16:439–453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y, Jiang P, Chang SX, Wu J, Lin L (2010) Organic mulch and fertilization affect soil carbon pools and forms under intensively managed bamboo (Phyllostachys praecox) forests in southeast China. J Soil Sediment 10:739–747

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y, Zhang J, Chang SX, Jiang P, Zhou G, Fu S, Yan E, Wu J, Lin L (2013) Long-term intensive management effects on soil organic carbon pools and chemical composition in Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) forests in subtropical China. Forest Ecol Manag 303:121–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y, Zhang J, Chang SX, Jiang P, Zhou G, Shen Z, Wu J, Lin L, Wang Z, Shen M (2014) Converting native shrub forests to Chinese chestnut plantations and subsequent intensive management affected soil C and N pools. Forest Ecol Manag 312:161–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ming A, Jia H, Zhao J, Tao Y, Li Y (2014) Above- and below-ground carbon stocks in an indigenous tree (Mytilaria laosensis) plantation chronosequence in subtropical China. PLoS ONE 9:e109730

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mund M, Kummetz E, Hein M, Bauer GA, Schulze ED (2002) Growth and carbon stocks of a spruce forest chronosequence in central Europe. Forest Ecol Manag 171:275–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy J, Riley JP (1962) A modified single solution method for the determination of phosphate in natural waters. Anal Chim Acta 27:31–36

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pang XY, Liu SQ, Liu Q, Lin B, Wu Y, He H, Bao WK (2004) Degradation and control of soil organic matter and nutrient pool under subalpine spruce plantation in western Sichuan. Acta Pedol Sin 41:126–133 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pang XY, Bao WK, Zhang YM (2005) Changes of soil properties of dark coniferous clear-cutting forestland in eastern Tibetan Plateau. World Sci-tech R & D 27:62–67 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pang XY, Bao WK, Wu N (2011) The effects of clear-felling subalpine coniferous forests on soil physical and chemical properties in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Soil Use Manage 27:213–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pang XY, Bao WK, Zhu B, Cheng WX (2013) Responses of soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity to thinning in a pine plantation. Agr Forest Meteorol 171–172:57–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pang XY, Hu B, Bao WK, Vargas TO, Tian G (2016) Effect of thinning-induced gap size on soil CO2 efflux in a reforested spruce forest in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Agr Forest Meteorol 220:1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul KI, Polglase PJ, Nyakuengama JG, Khanna PK (2002) Change in soil carbon following afforestation. Forest Ecol Manag 168:241–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peet RK (1992) Community structure and ecosystem function. In: Glenn-Lewin DC, Peet RK, Veblen TT (eds) Plant succession: theory and prediction. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 103–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Peet RK, Christensen NL (1987) Competition and tree death. Bioscience 37:586–595

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peichl M, Arain AA (2006) Above- and belowground ecosystem biomass and carbon pools in an age-sequence of temperate pine plantation forests. Agr Forest Meteorol 140:51–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peng SS, Piao S, Zeng Z, Ciais P, Zhou L, Li LZ, Myneni RB, Yin Y, Zeng H (2014) Afforestation in China cools local land surface temperature. Proc Natl Acad Sci 111:2915–2919

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Perry D (1985) The competition process in forest stands. In: Cannell MGR, Jackson JE (eds) Attributes of trees as crop plants. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Abbots Ripton, Hunts, England, pp 481–506

    Google Scholar 

  • Schedlbauer JL, Kavanagh KL (2008) Soil carbon dynamics in a chronosequence of secondary forests in northeastern Costa Rica. Forest Ecol Manag 255:1326–1335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shao G, Dai L, Dukes JS, Jackson RB, Tang L, Zhao J (2011) Increasing forest carbon sequestration through cooperation and shared strategies between China and the United States. Environ Sci Technol 45:2033–2034

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Skovsgaard JP, Stupak I, Vesterdal L (2006) Distribution of biomass and carbon in even-aged stands of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.): a case study on spacing and thinning effects in northern Denmark. Scand J Forest Res 21:470–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sogn TA, Stuanes AO, Abrahamsen G (1999) The capacity of forest soil to absorb anthropogenic N. Ambio 28:346–349

    Google Scholar 

  • State Forestry Administration of the People’s Republic of China (SFAPRC) (2009) Seventh national forest resource inventory report (2004-2008) State Forestry Administration of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing

  • Sun SQ, Bhatti JS, Jassal RS, Chang SX, Arevalo C, Black TA, Sidders D (2015) Stand age and productivity control soil carbon dioxide efflux and organic carbon dynamics in poplar plantations. Soil Sci Soc Am J 79:1638–1649

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Szymański S (2007) Silviculture of Norway spruce. In: Tjoelker MG, Boratyński A, Bugała W (eds) Biology and ecology of Norway spruce. Springer, AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands, p 469

    Google Scholar 

  • Thuille A, Schulze ED (2006) Carbon dynamics in successional and afforested spruce stands in Thuringia and the Alps. Global Change Biol 12:325–342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verstraeten G, Baeten L, De Frenne P, Vanhellemont M, Thomaes A, Boonen W, Muys B, Verheyen K (2013) Understorey vegetation shifts following the conversion of temperate deciduous forest to spruce plantation. Forest Ecol Manag 289:363–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang C, Pang XY, Bao WK (2010) Short term effects of low intensity thinning simulated by gap on ground microclimate and soil nutrients of pure spruce plantation. Chin J Appl Ecol 21:541–548 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • West PW (2006) Growing plantation forests. Springer, Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, p 304

    Google Scholar 

  • Westoby M (1984) The self-thinning rule. Adv Ecol Res 14:167–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang YP (1985) Alpine forest regeneration management handbook (in Chinese). Sichuan Publishing House of Science and Technology, Chengdu, China

    Google Scholar 

  • Zerva A, Ball T, Smith KA, Mencuccini M (2005) Soil carbon dynamics in a Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) chronosequence on a peaty gley. Forest Ecol Manag 205:227–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao C, Chen Q, Qiao Y, Pan K (2004) Structure and spatial pattern of a natural Abies faxoniana population on the eastern edge of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Chin J Plant Ecol 28:341–350 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao QX, Bao WK, Zhang W, Lai CH (2013) Research status of single tree biomass modeling in Sichuan province. Sichuan Forestry Exploration and Design 1:13–17 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao QX, Pang XY, Bao WK, He QH (2015) Effects of gap-model thinning intensity on the radial growth of gap-edge trees with distinct crown classes in a spruce plantation. Trees-struct Funct 29:1861–1870

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the subject editor, two anonymous reviewers, and editor-in-chief for their valuable comments and suggestions on the manuscript of the paper. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 31270492), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the CAS (grant no. XDA05070306), and the National Science & Technology Pillar Program in 12th Five-year Plan of China (grant no. 2011BAC09B04-02). We are grateful to the Markang Forestry Bureau, Miyaluo Forestry Bureau, and Jinchuan Forestry Bureau, for the help and support in their field survey.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization, and Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 416, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Xueyong Pang, Junsheng Huang, Qingxia Zhao, Defeng Feng & Weikai Bao

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Junsheng Huang, Qingxia Zhao & Defeng Feng

  3. Environmental Monitoring and Research Division, Monitoring and Research Department, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago,, Lue-Hing R&D Complex, 6001 W. Pershing Road, Cicero, IL, 60804, USA

    Guanglong Tian

  4. Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, 3201 S. Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL, 60616, USA

    Guanglong Tian

Authors
  1. Xueyong Pang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Junsheng Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Qingxia Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Defeng Feng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Weikai Bao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Guanglong Tian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xueyong Pang or Weikai Bao.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Scott X. Chang

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Electronic Supplementary Material 1: Table S1

The allometric equations for calculating biomass of various components of trees in the studied spruce plantations (Zhao et al. 2013) (DOCX 21 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pang, X., Huang, J., Zhao, Q. et al. Ecosystem carbon stock across a chronosequence of spruce plantations established on cutovers of a high-elevation region. J Soils Sediments 17, 2239–2249 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1415-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1415-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation