Ratios between aboveground net primary production, litterfall and carbon stocks in scots pine stands (Russia)

Abstract

Background: Forests are the main terrestrial regulators of greenhouse gas concentrations. However, estimates of carbon fluxes in them are characterized by large uncertainties. Therefore, the derivation of predictors for their assessment is an urgent task. The aim was to assess the carbon stocks in the biomass to characterize the intensity of aboveground net production and the amount of litterfall in Scots pine forests of different types on the North-East of the Europe. We estimated biomass and aboveground net primary production (ANPP) of stands using sample trees. For vegetation of ground cover biomass and primary production evaluating, we cut off all aboveground organs on an area of 625 cm 2 and removed the first-year parts. Litterfall was collected over 3-6 years using litter traps.Results: Most of the carbon in the biomass of pine forests is concentrated in trees (C stand ) with dominating role of stem wood. However, in boggy forests, ground vegetation plays a significant role in carbon stocks, both in absolute and relative values. We estimated carbon fluxes in ANPP and stand litterfall. High contribution of needles was detected for these flows. The ratio between ANPP and C stand varied from 0.018 to 0.056 but between Litterfal and C stand ranged from 0.008 to 0.024. Conclusion:The biomass, ANPP and litterfall depended form forest type. Obtained ratios between them can be used for assessing carbon fluxes in large regions using remote data collection of forest biomass.

Influence of clear-cutting on ground vegetation biomass and dwarf shrubs increment in the Scots pine forests of the European North-East

“…The ground vegetation (GV) that included dwarf shrubs, mosses and lichens is an important component of boreal forests performing significant functions (Nilsson and Wardle, 2005). First, in spite of little biomass it has high contribution to net primary production and net ecosystem production (Dirnbӧck et al, 2020;Osipov et al, 2021) and its short lifespan and richness in nutrients provides the more intense turnover of matter (Gilliam, 2007;De Groote et al, 2018). This effect increases after disturbances (Zehetgruber et al, 2017).…”