Recovery of Carbon and Vegetation Diversity 23 Years after Fire in a Tropical Dryland Forest of Indonesia

Wahyu Catur Adinugroho, Lilik Budi Prasetyo, Cecep Kusmana, Haruni Krisnawati, Christopher J. Weston and Liubov Volkova
Additional contact information
Wahyu Catur Adinugroho: Study Program of Natural Resource and Environmental Management Science, Graduate School, IPB University, Kampus IPB Baranangsiang, Bogor 16143, Indonesia
Lilik Budi Prasetyo: Department of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecotourism, Faculty of Forestry and Environment, IPB University, Kampus IPB Darmaga, Bogor 16680, Indonesia
Cecep Kusmana: Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry and Environment, IPB University, Kampus IPB Darmaga, Bogor 16680, Indonesia
Haruni Krisnawati: Research Center for Ecology and Ethnobiology, National Research and Innovation Agency, Jl. Raya Jakarta-Bogor Km. 46, Cibinong 16911, Indonesia
Christopher J. Weston: School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Creswick, VIC 3363, Australia
Liubov Volkova: School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Creswick, VIC 3363, Australia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-18

Abstract: Understanding the recovery rate of forest carbon stocks and biodiversity after disturbance, including fire, is vital for developing effective climate-change-mitigation policies and actions. In this study, live and dead carbon stocks aboveground, belowground, and in the soil to a 30 cm depth, as well as tree and shrub species diversity, were measured in a tropical lowland dry forest, 23 years after a fire in 1998, for comparison with adjacent unburned reference forests. The results showed that 23 years since the fire was insufficient, in this case, to recover live forest carbon and plant species diversity, to the level of the reference forests. The total carbon stock, in the recovering 23-year-old forest, was 199 Mg C ha −1 or about 90% of the unburned forest (220 Mg C ha −1 ), mainly due to the contribution of coarse woody debris and an increase in the 5–10 cm soil horizon’s organic carbon, in the burned forest. The carbon held in the live biomass of the recovering forest (79 Mg C ha −1 ) was just over half the 146 Mg C ha −1 of the reference forest. Based on a biomass mean annual increment of 6.24 ± 1.59 Mg ha −1 yr −1 , about 46 ± 17 years would be required for the aboveground live biomass to recover to equivalence with the reference forest. In total, 176 plant species were recorded in the 23-year post-fire forest, compared with 216 in the unburned reference forest. The pioneer species Macaranga gigantea dominated in the 23-year post-fire forest, which was yet to regain the similar stand structural and compositional elements as those found in the adjacent unburned reference forest.

Keywords: secondary forest; forest fire; Indonesia; Kalimantan; recovery; carbon pool (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/6964/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/6964/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:12:p:6964-:d:833565

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().