Abstract
Quantification of annual carbon sequestration is very important in order to assess the function of forest ecosystems in combatting global climate change and the ecosystem responses to those changes. Annual cycling and budget of carbon in a forested basin was investigated to quantify the carbon sequestration of a cool-temperate deciduous forest ecosystem in the Horonai stream basin, Tomakomai Experimental Forest, northern Japan. Net ecosystem exchange, soil respiration, biomass increment, litterfall, soil-solution chemistry, and stream export were observed in the basin from 1999–2001 as a part of IGBP-TEMA project. We found that 258 g C m−2 year−1 was sequestered annually as net ecosystem exchange (NEE) in the forested basin. Discharge of carbon to the stream was 4 g C m−2 year−1 (about 2% of NEE) and consisted mainly of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). About 43% of net ecosystem productivity (NEP) was retained in the vegetation, while about 57% of NEP was sequestered in soil, suggesting that the movement of sequestered carbon from aboveground to belowground vegetation was an important process for net carbon accumulation in soil. The derived organic carbon from aboveground vegetation that moved to the soil mainly accumulated in the solid phase of the soil, with the result that the export of dissolved organic carbon to the stream was smaller than that of dissolved inorganic carbon. Our results indicated that the aboveground and belowground interaction of carbon fluxes was an important process for determining the rate and retention time of the carbon sequestration in a cool-temperate deciduous forest ecosystem in the southwestern part of Hokkaido, northern Japan.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Ms. Yuko Yanagihara and all of the technical staff of the Tomakomai Research Station, Hokkaido University for their helpful fieldwork and maintenance of the observation instruments. We express our considerable thanks to Prof. Kenkichi Ishigaki and the late Prof. Shigeru Nakano for their constructive advice and their great efforts toward this research program. This study was funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, Culture and Technology (B(1)-11213101).
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Shibata, H., Hiura, T., Tanaka, Y. et al. Carbon cycling and budget in a forested basin of southwestern Hokkaido, northern Japan. Ecol Res 20, 325–331 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-005-0048-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-005-0048-7