Forest Management Strategies and Carbon Sequestration

Abstract

Regardless of their geographical location, forests play an important role in CO2 fixation. Carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems is distributed among three compartments: biomass of living plants (stem, branches, foliage and roots), plant detritus (including fallen branches and cones, forest litter, tree stumps, tree tops, and logs) and soil (organic mineral humus, and surface and deep mineral soil). Trees acquire energy for their living structures through photosynthesis which requires CO2 captured by stomata in the leaves. Part of the captured CO2 is used to create living biomass, while the remainder is released back into the atmosphere by autotrophic respiration. When leaves or branches die, they decompose, resulting in the increase of soil carbon, although a small amount is driven into the atmosphere by means of heterotrophic respiration.In this section, we will describe different ways in which forests and forestry can help to mitigate climate change and the potential impact of these activities. The three compartments of carbon storage should be considered in all estimates of impacts. Carbon content in living biomass is easily assessed through species specific equations or conversion factors to estimate carbon from oven dried weight of biomass (e.g., Ibáñez et al., 2002). Litter carbon content has been analysed in many studies on primary productivity of forests, although information on how litter carbon content is influenced by forest management is not as available (Blanco et al., 2006). In the last decade, efforts have been made to assess soil carbon in forests, but studies on the effect of forest management on soils show discrepancies among studies (Lindner & Karjalainen, 2007).