Abstract
Old-growth forests are important stores for carbon as they may accumulate C for centuries. The alteration of biomass and soil carbon pools across the development stages of a forest dynamics cycle has rarely been quantified. We studied the above- and belowground C stocks in the five forest development stages (regeneration to decay stage) of a montane spruce (Picea abies) forest of the northern German Harz Mountains, one of Central Europe’s few forests where the natural forest dynamics have not been disturbed by man for several centuries. The over-mature and decay stages had the largest total (up to 480 Mg C ha−1) and aboveground biomass carbon pools (200 Mg C ha−1) with biomass C stored in dead wood in the decay stage. The soil C pool (220–275 Mg C ha−1, 0–60 cm) was two to three times larger than in temperate lowland spruce forests and remained invariant across the forest dynamics cycle. On the landscape level, taking into account the frequency of the five forest development stages, the total carbon pool was approximately 420 Mg C ha−1. The results evidence the high significance of over-mature and decaying stages of temperate mountain forests not only for conserving specialized forest organisms but also for their large carbon storage potential.
Highlights
The earth’s forests with an extension of approximately 42 million km2 store about 45% of the global terrestrial carbon (Bonan 2008)
We studied the above- and belowground C stocks in the five forest development stages of a montane spruce (Picea abies) forest of the northern German Harz Mountains, one of Central Europe’s few forests where the natural forest dynamics have not been disturbed by man for several centuries
Lying trunks and other lying coarse woody debris were more evenly distributed over the stages; their biomass pool ranged from 15 Mg ha-1 in the decay stage (E) to 41 Mg ha-1 in the over-mature stage (D) (Table 4)
Summary
The earth’s forests with an extension of approximately 42 million km store about 45% of the global terrestrial carbon (Bonan 2008). In forests intensively exploited for timber, both the biomass and soil C stocks generally decrease with increasing forest management intensity (Schulze and others 1999; Yanai and others 2003). This aspect is highly relevant for Europe’s forests which have been subjected to a variety of management impacts during the past centuries or sometimes even millennia (Ciais and others 2008; Ellenberg and Leuschner 2010). These anthropogenic disturbances included timber harvest, and litter raking, fuel wood collection, and wood pasture. A likely consequence are unbalanced soil carbon stocks, reduced soil fertility, and often decreased wood biomass stocks in many contemporary stands as compared to old-growth forests (Glatzel 1999)
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