Abstract
We investigated the effects of forest management on the carbon (C) dynamics in Romanian forest soils, using two model simulations: CBM-CFS3 and Yasso15. Default parametrization of the models and harmonized litterfall simulated by CBM provided satisfactory results when compared to observed data from National Forest Inventory (NFI). We explored a stratification approach to investigate the improvement of soil C prediction. For stratification on forest types only, the NRMSE (i.e., normalized RMSE of simulated vs. NFI) was approximately 26%, for both models; the NRMSE values reduced to 13% when stratification was done based on climate only. Assuming the continuation of the current forest management practices for a period of 50 years, both models simulated a very small C sink during simulation period (0.05 MgC ha−1 yr−1). Yet, a change towards extensive forest management practices would yield a constant, minor accumulation of soil C, while more intensive practices would yield a constant, minor loss of soil C. For the maximum wood supply scenario (entire volume increment is removed by silvicultural interventions during the simulated period) Yasso15 resulted in larger emissions (−0.3 MgC ha−1 yr−1) than CBM (−0.1 MgC ha−1 yr−1). Under ‘no interventions’ scenario, both models simulated a stable accumulation of C which was, nevertheless, larger in Yasso15 (0.35 MgC ha−1 yr−1) compared to CBM-CSF (0.18 MgC ha−1 yr−1). The simulation of C stock change showed a strong “start-up” effect during the first decade of the simulation, for both models, explained by the difference in litterfall applied to each scenario compared to the spinoff scenario. Stratification at regional scale based on climate and forest types, represented a reasonable spatial stratification, that improved the prediction of soil C stock and stock change.
Highlights
Soil is the common element across ecosystems, from the natural to intensely anthropogenically modified ones
Within this study we addressed three specific research questions: (1) Does including detailed soil organic carbon dynamic models, i.e., running carbon pools by CBM and chemical compounds by Yasso15, improve the simulations of the initialized C stock compared to measured ones?
The amount of the litter input to DOM used for the spinoff varied by two or more orders of magnitude among the selected forest types, apparently closely reflecting the altitudinal distribution (Figure 2)
Summary
Soil is the common element across ecosystems, from the natural to intensely anthropogenically modified ones. Soil is modified through a range of disturbances, from direct and strong (e.g., for crops or infrastructure constructions) to indirect and light (e.g., through intervention on vegetation like in extensive grazing). Soils are a CO2 sink [4] but locally, both natural and human-induced disturbances affect the carbon balance in both ways. In Europe, the soil C stocks appear to only change slightly even for the most exposed land categories, like agricultural lands under a range of climate change scenarios [5,6]. Within forests, the soils show a contribution to atmospheric exchange proportional to forest area [7,8], generally comparable to grasslands [9]
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