TY - JOUR
T1 - Optimal rotation length for carbon sequestration in Eucalyptus plantations in subtropical China
AU - Zhou, Xiaoguo
AU - Wen, Yuanguang
AU - Goodale, Uromi Manage
AU - Zuo, Hua
AU - Zhu, Hongguang
AU - Li, Xiaoqiong
AU - You, Yeming
AU - Yan, Li
AU - Su, Yong
AU - Huang, Xueman
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
PY - 2017/9/1
Y1 - 2017/9/1
N2 - Most Eucalyptus plantations are intensively managed as short-rotation plantations and carbon (C) storage in plants and soils in stands older than 10 years is not well understood. We examined the changes in plant biomass C and soil organic C (SOC) storage across a chronosequence of E. urophylla × E. grandis forests (4-, 7-, 10-, 13-, and 21-year-old) in subtropical China. Biomass C stock significantly increased with stand age. SOC storage increased initially after afforestation, peaking in 10-year-old stands, and declined gradually. Ecosystem C pools in the five development stages were 111.76, 167.66, 234.04, 281.00, and 299.29 Mg ha−1, respectively. Trees and soils were the dominant C pools across all stand ages with the contribution of tree biomass C storage significantly increasing and SOC storage decreasing with age. Eucalyptus plantations are still in vigorous growth phase and have great potential for C sequestration at the end of the current rotation length (within 7 years). Considering the sharp decrease of annual biomass C increment rate and the gradual loss of SOC storage in stands older than 13 years, we recommend the optimal length for one full Eucalyptus plantation cycle should be 12–15 years in subtropical China to maximize land-use value and carbon sink value.
AB - Most Eucalyptus plantations are intensively managed as short-rotation plantations and carbon (C) storage in plants and soils in stands older than 10 years is not well understood. We examined the changes in plant biomass C and soil organic C (SOC) storage across a chronosequence of E. urophylla × E. grandis forests (4-, 7-, 10-, 13-, and 21-year-old) in subtropical China. Biomass C stock significantly increased with stand age. SOC storage increased initially after afforestation, peaking in 10-year-old stands, and declined gradually. Ecosystem C pools in the five development stages were 111.76, 167.66, 234.04, 281.00, and 299.29 Mg ha−1, respectively. Trees and soils were the dominant C pools across all stand ages with the contribution of tree biomass C storage significantly increasing and SOC storage decreasing with age. Eucalyptus plantations are still in vigorous growth phase and have great potential for C sequestration at the end of the current rotation length (within 7 years). Considering the sharp decrease of annual biomass C increment rate and the gradual loss of SOC storage in stands older than 13 years, we recommend the optimal length for one full Eucalyptus plantation cycle should be 12–15 years in subtropical China to maximize land-use value and carbon sink value.
KW - Carbon allocation
KW - Carbon sequestration
KW - Chronosequence
KW - Eucalyptus hybrid
KW - Plantation forest
KW - Subtropical China
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019246034&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11056-017-9588-2
DO - 10.1007/s11056-017-9588-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85019246034
SN - 0169-4286
VL - 48
SP - 609
EP - 627
JO - New Forests
JF - New Forests
IS - 5
ER -
