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Forest Management and Carbon Sink Dynamics: a Study in Boreal and Sub-Alpine Forest Regions

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Patterns and Processes in Forest Landscapes

Abstract

Increased human activities have changed global ecosystems that include the dynamics of carbon (C) stocks in forest lands, which are determined by the sizes of living biomass, dead woody materials and soil C pools. This study focuses on C dynamics in living biomass that has been used in international reporting. Based on the forest conditions of Fort A La Corne (FALC) in central Saskatchewan, Canada and Miyaluo in Sichuan Province, P.R. China, this study employed a strategic model to simulate C stock dynamics under various combinations of forest fire and harvest alternatives. Our simulation results suggest that the forest C sink size is less likely to be sustained with a simple strategy of complete protection against all disturbances. Changes in the C sink size are largely attributed to the dynamics of forest age distribution. Forest management options that keep forests within a certain range of mean forest age could result in both higher mean annual increment (MAI) and C sequestration rates than the default and average values used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The specific range of mean forest age will be region-specific, depending on the tree species composition and physical conditions. Our simulation results suggest that, in most cases, the FALC forests will function as C sinks except when the fire cycle becomes very short; hence, the area has the potential to positively contribute to the C sink. For Miyaluo forests, a strategy of regulated harvest activities can enhance the C sink.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, 5320-122 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6H 3S5

    Chao Li

Authors
  1. Chao Li
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  2. Shirong Liu
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  3. Yuandong Zhang
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  4. Jianwei Liu
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  5. Chuanwen Luo
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Scienze delle Produzioni Vegetali, University of Bari, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari BA, Italy

    Raffaele Lafortezza  & Giovanni Sanesi  & 

  2. Dept. Earth, Ecological & Environmental Sciences, University of Toledo, 2801 W. Bancroft St., Toledo, OH 43606-3390, USA

    Jiquan Chen

  3. USDA Forest Service Environmental Sciences Research, WFWAR - Stop Code 1113 1400 Independence Avenue, SW Washington DC, 20250-1113, USA

    Thomas R. Crow

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Li, C., Liu, S., Zhang, Y., Liu, J., Luo, C. (2008). Forest Management and Carbon Sink Dynamics: a Study in Boreal and Sub-Alpine Forest Regions. In: Lafortezza, R., Sanesi, G., Chen, J., Crow, T.R. (eds) Patterns and Processes in Forest Landscapes. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8504-8_18

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