Aboveground Carbon Stock in a Bottomland Hardwood Forest in the Southeastern United States

Abstract

Bottomland Hardwood Forests (BHFs) are commonly acknowledged worldwide for their vast carbon sequestration potential and carbon storage capacity. However, the paucity of forest carbon stock data from BHFs along the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) in Northeast Louisiana is an existing knowledge gap in understanding the carbon sequestration and storage dynamics across the region. This study was carried out in the Russell Sage Wildlife Management Area (RSWMA) in Northeast Louisiana using a protocol modified from the Terrestrial Carbon Observations Protocol for Vegetation Sampling. Comprehensive analyses of carbon stocks in trees, woody shrubs and seedlings, herbaceous vegetation, downed woody debris, leaf litter, and soil were carried out to quantify the carbon stored in each ecosystem component. Trees accounted for a carbon stock of 132.4 Mg C ha−1, approximately 99% of the total stock for the area. Woody shrubs and seedlings and leaf litter stored 0.4% (0.62 Mg C ha−1) and 0.3% (0.4 Mg C ha−1), respectively. Considering the sparse understory in a BHF, the carbon stored per hectare is comparable to other temperate forests in the conterminous United States. These findings highlight the importance of the BHF ecosystem in carbon storage and their overall role in regional and global ecosystem management in light of climate change.