Assessment of Carbon Sequestration Content in Biomass, Robinia pseudoacacia and Cupressus arizonica Stands around Tehran
Subject Areas : environmental management
Saeid Varamesh
1
(- Postgraduate Student, Faculty of Natural Resources and Marine Science, Tarbiat Modares University)
Seyyed Mohsen Hosseini
2
(Proffessor, Faculty of Natural Resources and Marine Science, Tarbiat Modares University)
kiyomars sefidi
3
(Assistant Proffessor, Faculty of Agricultur, Islamic Azad University)
Keywords: Carbon sequestration, Afforstation, Biomass, soil, Cupressus arizonica, Robinia pseudoacacia,
Abstract :
Forestation is one of the most suitable methods to increase the carbon sequestration potential which has been taken into consideration by many countries recently. This study was done in Chitgar forest park of Tehran in order to evaluate the carbon sequestration content of biomass (above and belowground), litter and soil (0-15 and 15-30cm) of 40 years old stands of Cupressus arizonica, Robinia pseudoacacia and the surrounding barren land (as blank). The results indicated that the content of carbon sequestration in R. pseudoacacia stand was 493.35 Mg/ha which was significantly (p<0.01) more than content of carbon sequestration in C.arizonica stand (328.82 Mg/ha) and barren land (10.8 Mg/ha). The trunk of trees had the highest share of total carbon sequestration (61% in R. pseudoacacia stand and 56% in C. arizonica stand). The percentages of sand, nitrogen and soil pH were also important factors affecting the soil organic carbon. The economical values of carbon sequestration through the mentioned stands were calculated as 20 and 3.5 million dollars respectively. The results showed that forestation plays an important role in increasing the potential of carbon sequestration in barren lands ecosystem. Since carbon sequestration potential was different among the studied stands, assigning and applying an appropriate management approach to select the species to improve the fertility and thereby increase the carbon sequestration and also to reduce the negative effects of climate change have a great importance in forestation.
Mendham, D.S., O’Connel, A.M., Grove, T.S., 2003: Change in soil carbon after land clearing or afforestation in highly weathered lateritic and sandy soil of South-Western Australia. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 95, 143–156