Baseline of Carbon Stocks in Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus spp. Plantations of Chile

Olmedo, Guillermo F.; Guevara, Mario; Gilabert, Horacio; Montes, Cristián R.; Arellano, Eduardo C.; Barría-Knopf, Beatriz; Gárate, Francisco; Mena-Quijada, Pablo; Acuña, Eduardo; Bown, Horacio E.; Ryan, Michael G.

doi:10.3390/f11101063

Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Edit a Special Issue

Article Menu

...

Open AccessArticle

Baseline of Carbon Stocks in Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus spp. Plantations of Chile

^1,*

^3,4,

⁵

^3,4,6

¹,

¹,

⁷

⁸ and

^9,10

Investigaciones Forestales Bioforest S.A., Camino a Coronel, Km. 15, Concepción 4030000, Chile

Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA

Centro Interdisciplinario de Cambio Global, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago 7820436, Chile

⁴

Departamento de Ecosistemas y Medio Ambiente, Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago 7820436, Chile

⁵

Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA

⁶

Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (Capes), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 9160000, Chile

⁷

Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad de Concepción, Victorial 631, Concepción 4030000, Chile

⁸

Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y de la Conservación de la Naturaleza, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 9206, Santiago 9160000, Chile

⁹

USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA

¹⁰

Department of Ecosystem Science & Sustainability and Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1499, USA

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Forests 2020, 11(10), 1063; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11101063

Received: 2 September 2020 / Revised: 24 September 2020 / Accepted: 29 September 2020 / Published: 30 September 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Silviculture and Carbon Sequestration in a Changing Climate)

View Full-Text Download PDF

Browse Figures

Citation Export

Abstract

Forest plantations have a large potential for carbon sequestration, playing an important role in the global carbon cycle. However, despite the large amount of research carried out worldwide, the absolute contribution of forest plantations is still incomplete for some parts of the world. To help bridge this gap, we calculated the amount of C stock in three fast growing forest species in Chile. Carbon pools in above-ground and below-ground biomass, forest floor, and soil were considered for this analysis. Across the plantation forests of Chile, carbon accumulated in the above-ground biomass was 181–212 Mg · ha

^{- 1}

for Pinus radiata, 147–180 Mg · ha

^{- 1}

for Eucalyptus nitens, and 95–117 Mg · ha

^{- 1}

for Eucalyptus globulus (age 20–24 years for P. radiata and 10–14 years for Eucalyptus). Total C stocks were for 343 Mg · ha

^{- 1}

for P. radiata, 352 Mg · ha

^{- 1}

for E. nitens, and 254 Mg · ha

^{- 1}

for E. globulus, also at the end of a typical rotation. The carbon pool in the forest floor was found to be significantly lower (less than 4% of the total) when compared to the other pools and showed large spatial variability. Our results agree with other studies showing that 30–50% of the total C stock is stored in the soil. The baseline data will be valuable for modelling C storage changes under different management regimes (changes in species, rotation length and stocking) and for different future climates. Given the contribution of soils to total carbon stocks, special attention should be paid to forest management activities that affect the soil organic carbon pool. View Full-Text

Keywords: forest carbon cycle; climate change mitigation; plantation forestry; soil carbon

▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Olmedo, G.F.; Guevara, M.; Gilabert, H.; Montes, C.R.; Arellano, E.C.; Barría-Knopf, B.; Gárate, F.; Mena-Quijada, P.; Acuña, E.; Bown, H.E.; Ryan, M.G. Baseline of Carbon Stocks in Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus spp. Plantations of Chile. Forests 2020, 11, 1063. https://doi.org/10.3390/f11101063

AMA Style

Olmedo GF, Guevara M, Gilabert H, Montes CR, Arellano EC, Barría-Knopf B, Gárate F, Mena-Quijada P, Acuña E, Bown HE, Ryan MG. Baseline of Carbon Stocks in Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus spp. Plantations of Chile. Forests. 2020; 11(10):1063. https://doi.org/10.3390/f11101063

Chicago/Turabian Style

Olmedo, Guillermo F., Mario Guevara, Horacio Gilabert, Cristián R. Montes, Eduardo C. Arellano, Beatriz Barría-Knopf, Francisco Gárate, Pablo Mena-Quijada, Eduardo Acuña, Horacio E. Bown, and Michael G. Ryan. 2020. "Baseline of Carbon Stocks in Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus spp. Plantations of Chile" Forests 11, no. 10: 1063. https://doi.org/10.3390/f11101063

Find Other Styles

Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Abstract views Pdf views Html views

Article Menu

Baseline of Carbon Stocks in Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus spp. Plantations of Chile

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Article Access Map by Country/Region

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI