Above- and Below-Ground Carbon Stocks in an Indigenous Tree (Mytilaria laosensis) Plantation Chronosequence in Subtropical China

Above- and Below-Ground Carbon Stocks in an Indigenous Tree (Mytilaria laosensis) Plantation Chronosequence in Subtropical China

More than 60% of the total area of tree plantations in China is in subtropical, and over 70% of subtropical plantations consist of pure stands of coniferous species. Because of the poor ecosystem services provided by pure coniferous plantations and the ecological instability of these stands, a movem...

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Main Authors: Ming, Angang, Jia, Hongyan, Zhao, Jinlong, Tao, Yi, Li, Yuanfa
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science 2014
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4208760/
id pubmed-4208760
recordtype oai_dc
spelling pubmed-42087602014-10-27 Above- and Below-Ground Carbon Stocks in an Indigenous Tree (Mytilaria laosensis) Plantation Chronosequence in Subtropical China Ming, Angang Jia, Hongyan Zhao, Jinlong Tao, Yi Li, Yuanfa Research Article More than 60% of the total area of tree plantations in China is in subtropical, and over 70% of subtropical plantations consist of pure stands of coniferous species. Because of the poor ecosystem services provided by pure coniferous plantations and the ecological instability of these stands, a movement is under way to promote indigenous broadleaf plantation cultivation as a promising alternative. However, little is known about the carbon (C) stocks in indigenous broadleaf plantations and their dependence on stand age. Thus, we studied above- and below-ground biomass and C stocks in a chronosequence of Mytilaria laosensis plantations in subtropical China; stands were 7, 10, 18, 23, 29 and 33 years old. Our assessments included tree, shrub, herb and litter layers. We used plot-level inventories and destructive tree sampling to determine vegetation C stocks. We also measured soil C stocks by analyses of soil profiles to 100 cm depth. C stocks in the tree layer dominated the above-ground ecosystem C pool across the chronosequence. C stocks increased with age from 7 to 29 years and plateaued thereafter due to a reduction in tree growth rates. Minor C stocks were found in the shrub and herb layers of all six plantations and their temporal fluctuations were relatively small. C stocks in the litter and soil layers increased with stand age. Total above-ground ecosystem C also increased with stand age. Most increases in C stocks in below-ground and total ecosystems were attributable to increases in soil C content and tree biomass. Therefore, considerations of C sequestration potential in indigenous broadleaf plantations must take stand age into account. Public Library of Science 2014-10-24 /pmc/articles/PMC4208760/ /pubmed/25343446 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0109730 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain declaration, which stipulates that, once placed in the public domain, this work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose.
repository_type Open Access Journal
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building NCBI PubMed
collection Online Access
language English
format Online
author Ming, Angang
Jia, Hongyan
Zhao, Jinlong
Tao, Yi
Li, Yuanfa
spellingShingle Ming, Angang
Jia, Hongyan
Zhao, Jinlong
Tao, Yi
Li, Yuanfa
Above- and Below-Ground Carbon Stocks in an Indigenous Tree (Mytilaria laosensis) Plantation Chronosequence in Subtropical China
author_facet Ming, Angang
Jia, Hongyan
Zhao, Jinlong
Tao, Yi
Li, Yuanfa
author_sort Ming, Angang
title Above- and Below-Ground Carbon Stocks in an Indigenous Tree (Mytilaria laosensis) Plantation Chronosequence in Subtropical China
title_short Above- and Below-Ground Carbon Stocks in an Indigenous Tree (Mytilaria laosensis) Plantation Chronosequence in Subtropical China
title_full Above- and Below-Ground Carbon Stocks in an Indigenous Tree (Mytilaria laosensis) Plantation Chronosequence in Subtropical China
title_fullStr Above- and Below-Ground Carbon Stocks in an Indigenous Tree (Mytilaria laosensis) Plantation Chronosequence in Subtropical China
title_full_unstemmed Above- and Below-Ground Carbon Stocks in an Indigenous Tree (Mytilaria laosensis) Plantation Chronosequence in Subtropical China
title_sort above- and below-ground carbon stocks in an indigenous tree (mytilaria laosensis) plantation chronosequence in subtropical china
description More than 60% of the total area of tree plantations in China is in subtropical, and over 70% of subtropical plantations consist of pure stands of coniferous species. Because of the poor ecosystem services provided by pure coniferous plantations and the ecological instability of these stands, a movement is under way to promote indigenous broadleaf plantation cultivation as a promising alternative. However, little is known about the carbon (C) stocks in indigenous broadleaf plantations and their dependence on stand age. Thus, we studied above- and below-ground biomass and C stocks in a chronosequence of Mytilaria laosensis plantations in subtropical China; stands were 7, 10, 18, 23, 29 and 33 years old. Our assessments included tree, shrub, herb and litter layers. We used plot-level inventories and destructive tree sampling to determine vegetation C stocks. We also measured soil C stocks by analyses of soil profiles to 100 cm depth. C stocks in the tree layer dominated the above-ground ecosystem C pool across the chronosequence. C stocks increased with age from 7 to 29 years and plateaued thereafter due to a reduction in tree growth rates. Minor C stocks were found in the shrub and herb layers of all six plantations and their temporal fluctuations were relatively small. C stocks in the litter and soil layers increased with stand age. Total above-ground ecosystem C also increased with stand age. Most increases in C stocks in below-ground and total ecosystems were attributable to increases in soil C content and tree biomass. Therefore, considerations of C sequestration potential in indigenous broadleaf plantations must take stand age into account.
publisher Public Library of Science
publishDate 2014
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4208760/
_version_ 1613148570032013312

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