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A significant carbon sink in temperate forests in Beijing: based on 20-year field measurements in three stands

Science China Life Sciences volume 58, pages 1135–1141 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Numerous efforts have been made to characterize forest carbon (C) cycles and stocks in various ecosystems. However, long-term observation on each component of the forest C cycle is still lacking. We measured C stocks and fluxes in three permanent temperate forest plots (birch, oak and pine forest) during 2011–2014, and calculated the changes of the components of the C cycle related to the measurements during 1992–1994 at Mt. Dongling, Beijing, China. Forest net primary production in birch, oak, and pine plots was 5.32, 4.53, and 6.73 Mg C ha-1 a-1, respectively. Corresponding net ecosystem production was 0.12, 0.43, and 3.53 Mg C ha-1 a-1. The C stocks and fluxes in 2011–2014 were significantly larger than those in 1992–1994 in which the biomass C densities in birch, oak, and pine plots increased from 50.0, 37.7, and 54.0 Mg C ha-1 in 1994 to 101.5, 77.3, and 110.9 Mg C ha-1 in 2014; soil organic C densities increased from 207.0, 239.1, and 231.7 Mg C ha-1 to 214.8, 241.7, and 238.4 Mg C ha-1; and soil heterotrophic respiration increased from 2.78, 3.49, and 1.81 Mg C ha-1 a-1 to 5.20, 4.10, and 3.20 Mg C ha-1 a-1. These results suggest that the mountainous temperate forest ecosystems in Beijing have served as a carbon sink in the last two decades. These observations of C stocks and fluxes provided field-based data for a long-term study of C cycling in temperate forest ecosystems.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    JianXiao Zhu, XueYang Hu, Hui Yao, ChenJun Ji & JingYun Fang

  2. Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    GuoHua Liu

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  1. JianXiao Zhu
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  2. XueYang Hu
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  3. Hui Yao
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  4. GuoHua Liu
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  5. ChenJun Ji
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  6. JingYun Fang
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Correspondence to JingYun Fang.

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Zhu, J., Hu, X., Yao, H. et al. A significant carbon sink in temperate forests in Beijing: based on 20-year field measurements in three stands. Sci. China Life Sci. 58, 1135–1141 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-015-4935-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-015-4935-z

Keywords

  • carbon density
  • carbon flux
  • carbon cycle
  • carbon budget
  • permanent plot
  • temperate forest