Effects on Carbon Storage of Conversion of Old-Growth Forests to Young Forests

AbstractOld forests containing ancient trees are essential ecosystems for life on earth. Mechanisms that happen both deep in the root systems and in the highest canopies ensure the viability of our planet. Old forests fix large quantities of atmospheric CO2, produce oxygen, create micro-climates and irreplaceable habitats, in sharp contrast to young forests and monoculture forests. The current intense logging activities induce rapid, adverse effects on our ecosystems and climate. Here we review large old trees with a focus on ecosystem preservation, climate issues, and therapeutic potential. We found that old forests continue to sequester carbon and fix nitrogen. Old trees control below-ground conditions that are essential for tree regeneration. Old forests create micro-climates that slow global warming and are irreplaceable habitats for many endangered species. Old trees produce phytochemicals with many biomedical properties. Old trees also host particular fungi with untapped medicinal potential, including the Agarikon, Fomitopsis officinalis, which is currently being tested against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Large old trees are an important part of our combined cultural heritage, providing people with aesthetic, symbolic, religious, and historical cues. Bringing their numerous environmental, oceanic, ecological, therapeutic, and socio-cultural benefits to the fore, and learning to appreciate old trees in a holistic manner could contribute to halting the worldwide decline of old-growth forests.

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Carbon storage in Lake States aspen ecosystems

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x92-146 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 22 (8) ◽

pp. 1107-1110 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

D.H. Alban ◽

D.A. Perala

Keyword(s):

Soil Carbon ◽

Carbon Storage ◽

Timber Harvesting ◽

Old Growth ◽

Standing Biomass ◽

Ecosystem Carbon ◽

Old Growth Forests ◽

Lake States

Total ecosystem carbon in the soil and vegetation was measured for a range of aspen (Populustremuloides Michx.) ecosystems, including a chronosequence on the same soil ranging in age from 0 to 80 years. Soil carbon stayed relatively constant throughout the stand's life and was not affected by timber harvesting. Changes in ecosystem carbon closely paralleled the changes in standing biomass. Aspen grown on 40-year rotations on good soils will sequester several times as much carbon per year as old-growth forests.

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Stand Structural Diversity and Species with Leaf Nitrogen Conservation Drive Aboveground Carbon Storage in Tropical Old-Growth Forests

Forests ◽

10.3390/f11090994 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 994

Author(s):

Genzhu Wang ◽

Yuguo Liu ◽

Xiuqin Wu ◽

Danbo Pang ◽

Xiao Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Storage ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Nitrogen Concentration ◽

Structural Diversity ◽

Old Growth ◽

Niche Complementarity ◽

Aboveground Carbon ◽

Old Growth Forests ◽

Stand Structural Diversity ◽

Aboveground Carbon Storage

Tropical old-growth forests are essential for global carbon regulation. Although there is increasing evidence that species and functional diversity, stand structural diversity, functional compositions, and elevation play roles in ecosystem functioning, the relative strengths of these drivers and the underlying mechanisms (mass-ratio hypothesis or niche complementarity hypothesis) are not clear. Aboveground carbon storage, species diversity, stand structural diversity, community-weighted mean (CWM), and functional diversity (FDvar) of 12 leaf traits were analyzed using data from 56 old-growth forest communities in the Dawei Mountain area of Southwest China. Multiple regression models were used to test the relative importance of the predictor variables and the structural equation model was used to explore the direct and indirect influences on aboveground carbon storage. High structural diversity moderately enhanced aboveground carbon storage. CWM leaf nitrogen concentration in young leaves weakly affected aboveground carbon storage. Our final multiple regression model showed that aboveground carbon storage is mostly affected by diameter at breast height (DBH) diversity, followed by FDvar of dry matter concentration in mature leaves and CWM nitrogen concentration in young leaves. The structural equation model indicated that elevation negatively affects aboveground carbon storage via diameter at breast height (DBH) diversity. Our results suggest that niche complementarity effects moderately drive aboveground carbon storage in tropical old-growth forests, but do not fully support the importance of the mass-ratio hypothesis.

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Greater risk of physical damage caused by debris fall to understory plants and tree seedlings in old-growth forests than in young forests

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/cjfr-2013-0276 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 43 (12) ◽

pp. 1203-1206 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Andrew J. Larson

Keyword(s):

Woody Debris ◽

Canopy Structure ◽

Snow Accumulation ◽

Stand Age ◽

Tree Seedlings ◽

Physical Damage ◽

Old Growth ◽

Understory Plants ◽

Old Growth Forests ◽

Young Forests

Falling canopy debris causes injury and mortality of tree seedlings and understory plants in a wide variety of forests. Canopy structure and dynamics differ between young and old-growth forests: old forests are taller and have more aboveground biomass and greater annual mortality of bole biomass. I predicted that risk of damage caused by debris fall in the understory is greater in old-growth forests than in young forests. I tested this prediction by tracking for 1 year the fates of artificial seedlings placed in young (stand age 31 to 61 years) and old-growth (stand age circa 500 years) Pseudotsuga–Tsuga forests. The risk of physical damage caused by debris fall in old-growth forests was significantly greater than in young forests (P = 0.001). Seedling models were damaged by falling debris at a rate of 4.4%·year−1 and 0.8%·year−1 in old-growth and young forests, respectively. More seedling models were damaged by fallen coarse woody debris in old-growth forests than in young forests, although this trend was not significant (P = 0.134). Approximately 25% of seedling models in both young and old-growth forests were damaged by something other than fallen canopy debris, most likely snow accumulation.

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Is There a Theoretical Limit to Soil Carbon Storage in Old-Growth Forests? A Model Analysis with Contrasting Approaches

Old-Growth Forests - Ecological Studies ◽

10.1007/978-3-540-92706-8_12 ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 267-281 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Markus Reichstein ◽

Göran I. Ågren ◽

Sébastien Fontaine

Keyword(s):

Soil Carbon ◽

Carbon Storage ◽

Model Analysis ◽

Soil Carbon Storage ◽

Theoretical Limit ◽

Old Growth ◽

Old Growth Forests

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Long-term recovery of vegetation communities after harvesting in the coastal temperate rainforests of northern British Columbia

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x08-145 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 38 (12) ◽

pp. 3098-3111 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Allen Banner ◽

Philip LePage

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Species Richness ◽

Thuja Plicata ◽

Stand Age ◽

Terrestrial Vegetation ◽

Old Growth ◽

Second Growth ◽

Old Growth Forests ◽

Young Forests ◽

Logging Disturbance

We sampled second-growth forests ranging in age from 28 to 98 years and compared them with old-growth forests to quantify rates of terrestrial vegetation recovery following harvesting on the northcentral coast of British Columbia. Species richness approximately doubles, while Simpson’s index of diversity increases from 0.81 to 0.91 from young to old forests. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordinations showed differentiation, with some overlap, of old-growth and second-growth forests and a fairly strong correlation of stand age with plot scores, driven by plant species presence and cover. Vegetation succession following logging disturbance is driven primarily by predisturbance species composition; most species found in the young forests are present in old forests and the higher species richness typical of old growth is largely due to the establishment of additional cryptogam and herb species of low cover and constancy. Significantly higher cover of shrub, herb, and bryophyte species differentiates old forests from second-growth forests. Forests 41–100 years old average 63%–73% similarity (depending on site type) to old-growth forests based on species presence–absence and 53%–58% similarity based on species cover. The scarcity of western redcedar ( Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don) in second-growth stands is of particular concern because of the high ecological, cultural, and economic importance of this tree species.

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