Soils Carbon Stocks and Litterfall Fluxes from the Bornean Tropical Montane Forests, Sabah, Malaysia

Abstract. Changes in the soil carbon stock can potentially have a large influence on global carbon balance between terrestrial ecosystems and atmosphere. Since carbon sequestration of forest soils is influenced by human activities, reporting of the soil carbon pool is a compulsory part of the national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories. Various soil carbon models are applied in GHG inventories, however, the verification of model-based estimates is lacking. In general, the soil carbon models predict accumulation of soil carbon in the middle-aged stands, which is in good agreement with chronosequence studies and flux measurements of eddy sites, but they have not been widely tested with repeated measurements of permanent plots. The objective of this study was to evaluate soil carbon changes in the organic layer of boreal middle-aged forest stands. Soil carbon changes on re-measured sites were analyzed by using soil survey data that was based on composite samples as a first measurement and by taking into account spatial variation on the basis of the second measurement. By utilizing earlier soil surveys, a long sampling interval, which helps detection of slow changes, could be readily available. The range of measured change in the soil organic layer varied from −260 to 1260 g m−2 over the study period of 16–19 years and 23 ± 2 g m−2 per year, on average. The increase was significant in 6 out of the 38 plots from which data were available. Although the soil carbon change was difficult to detect at the plot scale, the overall increase measured across the middle-aged stands agrees with predictions of the commonly applied soil models. Further verification of the soil models is needed with larger datasets that cover wider geographical area and represent all age classes, especially young stands with potentially large soil carbon source.

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Tree influence on carbon stock and C:N ratio of soil organic layer in boreal Scots pine forests

Canadian Journal of Soil Science ◽

10.4141/cjss10035 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 90 (4) ◽

pp. 559-566 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

M. Häkkinen ◽

J. Heikkinen ◽

R. Mäkipää

Keyword(s):

Soil Properties ◽

Spatial Variation ◽

Soil Carbon ◽

Scots Pine ◽

Carbon Stock ◽

C:N Ratio ◽

Small Scale ◽

Organic Layer ◽

Soil Carbon Stock ◽

Soil Organic Layer

Observed small-scale spatial variation of forest soil is suggested to be produced by tree influence. We examined spatial variation of the tree influences by modelling tree influence potential that accounts for location and size of trees. Thereafter, we tested significance of the correlations between the tree influence potential and soil properties (carbon stock and C:N ratio of the organic layer) with Monte Carlo permutation tests. The methods were applied to five Scots pine stands located in the boreal vegetation zone in Finland. We found statistically significant tree influence on soil C:N ratio in all studied stands, but the tree influence on soil carbon stock was significant only in three of five stands. This indicates that location of trees has a relatively steady and remarkable influence on spatial variation of a soil parameter that reflects soil fertility and nutrient balance, but variation of soil carbon stock is not that clearly affected by current tree stand. The correlations between C:N ratios and tree influences were positive in four of the five stands, indicating that soil was less fertile near the trees. The methods described here produce statistically reliable information pertaining to the influence of trees on soil properties.

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Trade-Offs Among Aboveground, Belowground, and Soil Organic Carbon Stocks Along Altitudinal Gradients in Andean Tropical Montane Forests

Frontiers in Plant Science ◽

10.3389/fpls.2020.00106 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Lydia de la Cruz-Amo ◽

Guillermo Bañares-de-Dios ◽

Victoria Cala ◽

Íñigo Granzow-de la Cerda ◽

Carlos I. Espinosa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Organic Carbon ◽

Soil Organic Carbon ◽

Carbon Stocks ◽

Montane Forests ◽

Altitudinal Gradients ◽

Tropical Montane Forests ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Soil Organic Carbon Stocks

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Soil carbon stock increases in the organic layer of boreal middle-aged stands

Biogeosciences Discussions ◽

10.5194/bgd-8-1015-2011 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 1015-1042 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

M. Häkkinen ◽

J. Heikkinen ◽

R. Mäkipää

Keyword(s):

Soil Carbon ◽

Carbon Stock ◽

Geographical Area ◽

Repeated Measurements ◽

Soil Survey ◽

Permanent Plots ◽

Organic Layer ◽

Middle Aged ◽

Soil Carbon Stock ◽

Soil Organic Layer

Abstract. Changes in the soil carbon stock can potentially have a large influence on global carbon balance between terrestrial ecosystems and atmosphere. Since carbon sequestration of forest soils is influenced by human activities, reporting of the soil carbon pool is a compulsory part of the national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories. Various soil carbon models are applied in GHG inventories, however, the verification of model-based estimates is lacking. In general, the soil carbon models predict accumulation of soil carbon in the middle-aged stands, which is in good agreement with chronosequence studies and flux measurements of eddy sites, but they have not been widely tested with repeated measurements of permanent plots. The objective of this study was to evaluate soil carbon changes in the organic layer of boreal middle-aged forest stands. Soil carbon changes on re-measured sites were analyzed by using soil survey data that was based on composite samples as a first measurement and by taking into account spatial variation on the basis of the second measurement. By utilizing earlier soil surveys, a long sampling interval, which helps detection of slow changes, could be readily available. The range of measured change in the soil organic layer varied from −260 to 1260 g m−2 over the study period of 16–19 years and 23 ± 2 g m−2 per year, on average. The increase was significant in 6 out of the 38 plots from which data were available. Although the soil carbon change was difficult to detect at the plot scale, the overall increase measured across the middle-aged stands agrees with predictions of the commonly applied soil models. Further verification of the soil models is needed with larger datasets that cover wider geographical area and represent all age classes, especially young stands with potentially large soil carbon source.

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