Carbon Storage in Biomass and Soil after Mountain Landscape Restoration: Pinus nigra and Picea abies Plantations in the Hyrcanian Region

Rodolfo Picchio, Farzam Tavankar, Hamid Rafie, Aezam Rezae Kivi, Meghdad Jourgholami and Angela Lo Monaco
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Rodolfo Picchio: Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, Tuscia University, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Farzam Tavankar: Department of Forestry, Khalkhal Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khalkhal 56817-31367, Iran
Hamid Rafie: Center for Urban Studies and Planning, Ardebil 56196-64497, Iran
Aezam Rezae Kivi: Department of Plant Biology, Khalkhal Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khalkhal 56817-31367, Iran
Meghdad Jourgholami: Department of Forestry and Forest Economics, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj 14176-43184, Iran
Angela Lo Monaco: Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, Tuscia University, 01100 Viterbo, Italy

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Forest plantations have significantly more potential for carbon storage than non-forested areas. In this study, the amount of carbon stored in the biomass (trees, shrubs, herb, litter, and deadwood) and soil of 25-year-old plantations with P. nigra and P. abies species was measured and compared with the non-planted adjacent area (control) in a mountainous region of northern Iran. The results show that the amount of carbon stored in the biomass of P. nigra and P. abies plantations was 4.4 and 3.3 times higher than the value of the control (4.59 C Mg ha −1 ), respectively. In addition, the amount of carbon stored in soil was 1.5 and 1.2 times higher than the value at the control site (47.91 C Mg ha −1 ), respectively. Of the total carbon stored in the biomass of plantations, the highest level was observed in trees (86.5–88.5%), followed by shrubs (4.6–6.5%), litter (2.7–2.8%), the herbaceous layer (1.8–2.5%), and deadwood (1.7–2.4%), while 45.5%, 34.6%, 10.8%, 5.8%, and 3.3% of the total carbon stored in the biomass of the control site were in shrubs, trees, the herbaceous layer, litter, and deadwood, respectively. The soil carbon sequestration rate (SCSR) in soil depths of 0–10 and 10–20 cm was 0.46 and 0.44 C Mg ha −1 yr −1 in the P. nigra plantation and 0.15 and 0.23 C Mg ha −1 yr −1 in the P. abies plantation, respectively. According to the results, we conclude that the restoration of the landscape by tree plantation has a substantially determining impact on the acceleration of carbon sequestration.

Keywords: coniferous plantation; biomass; carbon storage; carbon sequestration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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