Abstract
Forest soils are a key element of the forest ecosystems which could contribute to carbon storage and climate change mitigation. The carbon sequestration and storage potential of the forest soils, however, depends to a great extent on the forestry operations and forest management activities carried out in the forest. There is a widely accepted assumption that under a set of climate and management conditions the carbon content in the forest soils is at equilibrium. However, different factors like management activities, productivity, decay rates and/or natural disturbances could alter the carbon dynamics of forest soils. The aim of the current study was to assess the carbon stock and the carbon stock changes in mineral forest soils in Bulgaria based on the forest soil monitoring information gathered under the ICP Forest Programme. For that purpose, a dataset from the programme on mineral forest soils from 1998 was processed and analysed. The carbon stock for each sample plot was estimated for the 0-30 cm layer. The carbon stock change was calculated for all the sample plots with repeated measurements over the study period. The results were further analysed with parametric and non-parametric statistical tests to assess whether the carbon stock changes are significant. However, the lack of other relevant observations within the monitoring implementation such as litter decomposition, turnover rates, climatic conditions, etc., hinder the application of dynamic soil carbon models in assessing and predicting the current and the future rate of the soil carbon in forests in Bulgaria. 
Highlights
Forest ecosystems and their management play an essential role in mitigating climate change by contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere
Considering the lack of a large-scale assessment of the soil organic carbon stock dynamics in forest soil in Bulgaria, and the importance of the evaluation of the soil carbon stocks and its changes regarding the National GHG Inventory Reports under United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the international agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, with this study we aim to analyse and assess the forest soil carbon stocks and forest soil carbon stock changes, and to check whether there is a significant change in the soil carbon stocks, and if it is in positive or negative aspect
The analysis of the ICP Forest data on soil organic carbon stock in forest soils shows that the carbon stock (0-30 cm) varies in wide ranges for the two analysed periods (Table 1), from 3.244 tC/ha in the first period and 4.185 tC/ha in the second, till 115.683 t/ha for periods 1998-2008 (P1) and 154.856 t/ha for P2
Summary
Forest ecosystems and their management play an essential role in mitigating climate change by contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. Two-thirds of the carbon is stored in the soil, and more than one-third in vegetation (Gorte, 2009). Many of these forests are managed to produce commercial wood products. The changing climate, as well as the unsustainable land management practices, could lead to a reduction in the amount of sequestrated carbon. If forests are managed properly and with respect to preserving and maintaining the organic matter in the mineral soils, the soils have a great potential to sequester carbon and to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation (FAO, 2017)
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