Chapter 3 - Organic Carbon Stocks in all Pools Following Land Cover Change in the Rainforest of Madagascar

Abstract

Land use change, along with the release of carbon (C) as carbon dioxide, constitutes a major source of emissions that contribute to climate change. Consequently, accurate carbon stock estimation is required to both inform and mitigate climate change. This study determined the importance of five C pools, including above-ground biomass (AGB), below-ground biomass (BGB), soil organic C (SOC), deadwood (DW), and litter, as well as the effect of land use change on these five pools for a region in eastern Madagascar. We assessed the importance of each pool, as well as the effect of land use change, on a closed-canopy forest (CC), tree fallow (TF), shrub fallow (SF), and degraded land (DL). Our results show that more C was stored in below-ground pools than in above-ground pools, and that SOC represented the largest (76.49%) contributor to the total C stock (186.64Mg Cha−1), followed by AGB (13.54%) and BGB (6.64%). DW represented an important pool in CC, representing 6.64% of the total C stock in this land use type. Conversely, the litter pool represented the lowest contribution to total C stock. Among the five pools, only the SOC showed little variation following land use change, while AGB, DW, and BGB were the most affected after deforestation and subsequent land degradation, most notably from CC to TF. The litter showed significant decreases of C stock from CC to TF and SF. These results highlighted the importance of considering all five pools in an accurate estimate of C stock for a better implementation of initiatives, such as “Reducing C Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation” (REDD+).