Abstract
Reforestation plays an important role in the carbon cycle and climate change. However, knowledge of ecosystem carbon sequestration through reforestation with mixed species is limited. Especially in dry hot valley of the Jinsha River, no studies cover total ecosystem carbon sequestration level in mature mixed plantations for a limited area of mixed plantations and difficulty in the sampling of plant roots and deep soil. In this study, carbon sequestration of seven mixed plantations of different ages in dry hot valley of the Jinsha River was investigated with analogous sites method. The results are as follows: 1) Deep soil organic carbon (SOC) storage significantly increased with stand age (p = 0.025), possibly due to fine root exudates and dissolved organic carbon transportation into deep soil and retention. 2) Total biomass carbon storage in the 30-year-old mixed plantation was 77.78 t C ha−1, 54 times reference wasteland and 9 times reference natural recovery shrub-grassland. However, total biomass carbon storage of 30-year-old mixed plantation was insignificantly lower than that of reference natural forest (p = 0.429). After 30 years of reforestation, plantation biomass carbon storage recovered to reference level, and its sequestration rate was 2.54 t C ha−1 yr−1. 3) The total ecosystem carbon storage of 30-year-old mixed plantation was 185.50 t C ha−1, 2.38 times reference wasteland, 2.29 times reference natural recovery shrub grassland, and 29% lower than reference natural forest. It indicated that niche complementary, good stand structure, and characteristics of dominant species Leucaena leucocephala in mixed plantations facilitate more rapid carbon sequestration, especially biomass carbon in the dry hot valley.
Highlights
Reforestation is extremely important to influence global climate for changing carbon sequestration of soil and biomass [1]
This study showed that niche complementary, good stand structure, and dominant species L. leucocephala facilitated total biomass carbon sequestration of the mixed plantations in dry hot valley
After 30 years of reforestation, biomass carbon of mixed plantations recovered to reference level, and total ecosystem carbon storage was 2.38 times reference wasteland, 2.29 times reference natural shrub grassland, and 29% lower than reference natural forest
Summary
Reforestation is extremely important to influence global climate for changing carbon sequestration of soil and biomass [1]. Because soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration is influenced by various factors, such as climate, soil type, forest type, and stand age, large variations have been reported in the direction and amount of SOC stock change following reforestation [2,3,4]. Due to difficulty in collecting deep soil samples, especially from forestland [5], the organic carbon in deep soil layers has been poorly studied. Deep soil (at 20–100 cm depth) stores 50–67% of SOC in one-meter. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 1937; doi:10.3390/ijerph16111937 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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