Needles carbon pool structure in pine stands growing on abandoned farmland in subtaiga/forest-steppe zone of Сentral Siberia

Abstract

Studying green biomass carbon pool makes it possible to assess carbon sequestration potential of both forests stands and individual trees. Such a study is highly relevant considering the fact that pine stands are replacing abandoned farmlands in Central Siberia. The criterion used to differentiate pine forests was the stand density. Modelling the stands structure (in terms of number of trees and needles carbon pool) considering trees diameter, showed that the Gaussian function is the most adequate. The stands diameter structure differs from the needles carbon pool structure. Trees average for a specific stand sequester the most carbon by their needles. Thus, forest managers should focus on saving medium-sized pine trees. In recent year, there has been a gradually increasing global temperature, which influence both the growth rate and the structure of forest stands. As a result, an equation was obtained that consider the change in the average diameter, standard deviation and maximum temperature extremes.