Forests play an important role in acting as a carbon sink of terrestrial ecosystem.Although global forests have huge carbon carrying capacity(CCC)and carbon sequestration potential(CSP),there were few quantification reports on Chinese forests.We collected and compiled a forest biomass dataset of China,a total of 5841 sites,based on forest inventory and literature search results.From the dataset we extracted 338 sites with forests aged over 80 years,a threshold for defining mature forest,to establish the mature forest biomass dataset.After analyzing the spatial pattern of the carbon density of Chinese mature forests and its controlling factors,we used carbon density of mature forests as the reference level,and conservatively estimated the CCC of the forests in China by interpolation methods of Regression Kriging,Inverse Distance Weighted and Partial Thin Plate Smoothing Spline.Combining with the sixth National Forest Resources Inventory,we also estimated the forest CSP.The results revealed positive relationships between carbon density of mature forests and temperature,precipitation and stand age,and the horizontal and elevational patterns of carbon density of mature forests can be well predicted by temperature and precipitation.The total CCC and CSP of the existing forests are 19.87 and 13.86 Pg C,respectively.Subtropical forests would have more CCC and CSP than other biomes.Consequently,relying on forests to uptake carbon by decreasing disturbance on forests would be an alternative approach for mitigating greenhouse gas concentration effects besides afforestation and reforestation.
LIU Ying ChunYU Gui RuiWANG Qiu FengZHANG Yang JianXU Ze Hong
Decomposition of soil organic matter(SOM) is of importance for CO_2 exchange between soil and atmosphere and soil temperature and moisture are considered as two important factors controlling SOM decomposition. In this study, soil samples were collected at 5 elevations ranging from 753 to 2 357 m on the Changbai Mountains in Northeast China, and incubated under different temperatures(5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30?C) and soil moisture levels(30%, 60%, and 90% of saturated soil moisture) to investigate the effects of both on SOM decomposition and its temperature sensitivity at different elevations. The results showed that incubation temperature(F = 1 425.10, P < 0.001), soil moisture(F = 1 327.65, P < 0.001), and elevation(F = 1 937.54, P < 0.001) all had significant influences on the decomposition rate of SOM. The significant effect of the interaction of incubation temperature and soil moisture on the SOM decomposition rate was observed at all the 5 sampling elevations(P < 0.001). A two-factor model that used temperature and moisture as variables fitted the SOM decomposition rate well(P < 0.001) and could explain 80%–93% of the variation of SOM decomposition rate at the 5 elevations. Temperature sensitivity of SOM decomposition, expressed as the change of SOM decomposition rate in response to a 10?C increase in temperature(Q_(10)), was significantly different among the different elevations(P < 0.01), but no apparent trend with elevation was discernible. In addition, soil moisture and incubation temperature both had great impacts on the Q_(10) value(P < 0.01), which increased significantly with increasing soil moisture or incubation temperature. Furthermore, the SOM decomposition rate was significantly related to soil total Gram-positive bacteria(R^2= 0.33, P < 0.01) and total Gram-negative bacteria(R^2= 0.58, P < 0.001). These findings highlight the importance of soil moisture to SOM decomposition and its Q_(10) value,which needs to be emphasized under warming climate scenarios.
WANG DanHE NianpengWANG QingLV YuliangWANG QiufengXU ZhiweiZHU Jianxing
