Carbon Pools in a 77 Year-Old Oak Forest under Conversion from Coppice to High Forest

Petros Ganatsas (), Marianthi Tsakaldimi, Theodoros Karydopoulos, Lydia-Maria Petaloudi, Alexandros Papaemmanouil, Sotirios Papadopoulos and Sofia Gerochristou
Additional contact information
Petros Ganatsas: Laboratory of Silviculture, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 262, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Marianthi Tsakaldimi: Laboratory of Silviculture, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 262, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Theodoros Karydopoulos: Laboratory of Silviculture, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 262, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Lydia-Maria Petaloudi: Laboratory of Silviculture, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 262, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Alexandros Papaemmanouil: Laboratory of Silviculture, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 262, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Sotirios Papadopoulos: Laboratory of Silviculture, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 262, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Sofia Gerochristou: Laboratory of Silviculture, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 262, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 21, 1-19

Abstract: Recent model projections and many research results across the world suggest that forests could be significant carbon sinks or sources in the future, contributing in a such a way to global warming mitigation. Conversion of coppice forest to high forest may play an important role towards this direction. This study deals with the estimation of biomass, carbon pool and accumulation rates in all IPCC biomass categories of a 77 year-old oak ecosystem, which has been subjected to conversion from coppice to high forest through repeated tending measures. The research includes a plethora of field tree measurements, destructive sampling of representative oak trees and a systematic sampling of dead wood (standing and fallen), litter and soil. Furthermore, for the estimation of above ground tree living biomass at the stand level, we developed and tested appropriate allometric biomass equations based on the relationships between various independent tree variables (morphological characteristics) and the different tree biomass compartments or leaf biomass. Data analysis shows that coppice conversion results in large accumulation of carbon in all ecosystem pools, with an average annual carbon rate accumulation of 1.97 Mg ha –1 in living above and below ground tree biomass and small amounts to dead wood and litter. The developed allometric equations indicate that above ground tree living biomass can be reliable and precisely predicted by the simple measurement of tree diameter.

Keywords: IPCC; CO 2 removal; coppice conversion; silvicultural systems; Mediterranean forests; biomass equations; forest management (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/2071-1050/14/21/13764/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/21/13764/ (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:21:p:13764-:d:951601

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 ().