Historical trends in the amount and structure of organic carbon stocks in natural and managed ecosystems in European Russia

Abstract

Contemporary (corresponding to the modern state of ecosystems and land use) and prehistoric (for hypothetic intact natural ecosystems similar to modern virgin ecosystems) stocks of organic carbon were assessed for model regions of southern taiga, forest-steppe and steppe in European Russia. The comparison of these stocks enabled an assessment of the integral result of the multidirectional changes in land use that occurred in the studied regions over the historical period. The carbon stocks were determined using a unified cartographic basis, data on taxonomy and texture of soil units, modern land use types and the type and age structure of reconstructed and contemporary vegetation. The results obtained indicate that the modern carbon pool has reduced by 24% compared to the potential prehistoric one in the Kostroma Region and Rostov Region (southern taiga and steppe zones, respectively) and by 37% in the Kursk Region (forest-steppe zone). It was also demonstrated that the contribution of soil to the total organic carbon stock increases southwards, from southern taiga to dry steppe, from 51 to 95% during the prehistoric period and from 62 to 96% currently. The study results show that forestry and agriculture increase the contribution of soil to maintaining the region’s carbon budget.