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Changes in carbon stock following soil scarification of non-wooded stands in Hokkaido, northern Japan

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Journal of Forest Research

Abstract

To restore non-wooded stands dominated by dwarf bamboo species (Sasa kurilensis or S. senanensis) into forests, mechanical soil scarification has been applied in northern Japan since the 1960s. The treatment is followed both by natural regeneration and artificial planting. In this study, we quantified the total carbon stock (plants plus 0.3 m depth of soil) of these stands over 35-year age-sequences. The natural regeneration stands were gradually dominated by Betula ermanii. The carbon stock increased linearly to 215.1 ± 35.2 Mg C ha−1 for a 37-year-old stand formerly dominated by S. kurilensis, and 181.1 ± 29.8 Mg C ha−1 for a 34-year-old stand formerly dominated by S. senanensis. The latter was similar to that of a Picea glehnii plantation, formerly dominated by S. senanensis, with comparable stand age (160.3 ± 6.7 Mg C ha−1 for 35-year-old stands). Although the carbon stock in plants quickly offset the untreated level, that in the soil remained depressed even in the older stands. This resulted in small differences in carbon stock of these stands with untreated dwarf bamboo stands. We conclude that natural regeneration following scarification could be a prime option for carbon sink management in the region. However, we should take a long rotation period (i.e., >50 years) to ensure a carbon sink state. A potential of further improvements of the practice, including that reduce intensity of soil disturbance, was presented.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions. Thanks are also extended to F. Satoh, S. Uemura, and M. Ozawa for their valuable comments, and members of the Uryu Experimental Forest for their assistance in the fieldwork. We thank the Biosphere Dynamics Research Group of the Institute of Low Temperature Science (especially K. Kujiraoka, A. Sumida and T. Hara), and the Teshio Experimental Forest (especially K. Takagi), Hokkaido University, for providing data applied to formulate the allometric equations. This study was partly supported by the research projects fund from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (No. 14760095 and 17580123).

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Correspondence to Toshiya Yoshida.

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Aoyama, K., Yoshida, T., Harada, A. et al. Changes in carbon stock following soil scarification of non-wooded stands in Hokkaido, northern Japan. J For Res 16, 35–45 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10310-010-0204-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10310-010-0204-y

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