Abstract
We assessed the impact of species composition and stand structure on the spatial variation of forest carbon density using data collected from a 4-ha plot in a subtropical forest in southern China. We found that 1) forest biomass carbon density significantly differed among communities, reflecting a significant effect of community structure and species composition on carbon accumulation; 2) soil organic carbon density increased whereas stand biomass carbon density decreased across communities, indicating that different mechanisms might account for the accumulation of stand biomass carbon and soil organic carbon in the subtropical forest; and 3) a small number of tree individuals of the medium- and large-diameter class contributed predominantly to biomass carbon accumulation in the community, whereas a large number of seedlings and saplings were responsible for a small proportion of the total forest carbon stock. These findings demonstrate that both biomass carbon and soil carbon density in the subtropical forest are sensitive to species composition and community structure, and that heterogeneity in species composition and stand structure should be taken into account to ensure accurate forest carbon accounting.
Highlights
Forests play an important role in maintaining the carbon balance between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere [1]
We examined the impact of species composition and stand structure on forest carbon density and investigated the relationship between forest biomass carbon density and soil organic carbon density
The carbon stock of the 10 most dominant species accounted for 89.7% of the total biomass carbon storage, and the two most dominant species alone, Castanopsis carlesii and Schima superba, contributed 65.13% to the total biomass carbon stock, indicating that the bulk of the carbon pool is determined by a small number of species in a subtropical evergreen forest with high species dominance
Summary
Forests play an important role in maintaining the carbon balance between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere [1]. In the Kyoto Protocol, forest carbon sinks have been acknowledged as effective channels for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions [2, 3]. Under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and emissions trading, worldwide afforestation and reforestation projects for carbon sequestration have been initiated, advancing related work on the measurement, monitoring, and evaluation of carbon stocks and sequestration potentials in forest ecosystems [4, 5]. Carbon accounting methodologies for CDM-based forestry projects are oriented towards large-scale applications, and the results are often highly variable and uncertain [6, 7]. The measurement of carbon stocks in non-CDM based forests, especially natural forests, is largely dependent on the accounting protocols used for CDMbased afforestation and reforestation projects [8,9,10]. Spatial heterogeneity in PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0136984 August 28, 2015
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