Exploring the role of canopy cover and environmental factors in shaping carbon storage in Desa’a forest, Ethiopia

IF 3.9 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Carbon Balance and Management Pub Date : 2024-09-09 DOI:10.1186/s13021-024-00277-x

Negasi Solomon, Emiru Birhane, Mulley Teklay, Aklilu Negussie, Tesfay Gidey

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Abstract

Background

Dry Afromontane forests play a vital role in mitigating climate change by sequestering and storing carbon, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Despite previous research highlighting the importance of carbon stocks in these ecosystems, the influence of canopy cover and environmental factors on carbon storage in dry Afromontane forests has been barely assessed. This study addresses this knowledge gap by investigating the effects of environmental factors and vegetation cover on carbon stocks in Desa’a forest, a unique and threatened Afromontane dry forest ecosystem in northern Ethiopia. Data on woody vegetation, dead litter, grass biomass, and soil samples were collected from 57 plots. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed at a 95% confidence level (α = 0.05) to examine the influence of canopy cover and environmental factors on the carbon stocks of various pools.

Results

Among the 35 woody species identified, Juniperus procera was the most dominant, while Carissa edulis Vahl and Eucalyptus globulus were the least dominant. The average total carbon stock was 92.89 Mg ha⁻¹, with contributions from aboveground carbon, below-ground carbon, litter carbon, grass carbon, and soil organic carbon. Among the carbon pools, soil organic carbon had the highest carbon stock, accounting for 76.8% of the total, followed by above-ground biomass carbon at 17.7%. Significant variations in carbon stocks were found across altitude class and canopy level but not slope and aspect factors.

Conclusions

In summary, altitude and canopy level were found to significantly influence carbon stocks in Desa’a forest, providing valuable insights for conservation and climate change mitigation efforts in dry Afromontane forests. Forest intervention planning and management strategies should consider the influence of different environmental variables and tree canopy levels.

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探索树冠覆盖和环境因素在影响埃塞俄比亚 Desa'a 森林碳储存中的作用。

背景：非洲旱地森林通过固碳和储碳以及减少温室气体排放，在减缓气候变化方面发挥着至关重要的作用。尽管以前的研究强调了碳储量在这些生态系统中的重要性，但几乎没有评估过树冠覆盖和环境因素对非洲干森林碳储量的影响。本研究针对这一知识空白，调查了环境因素和植被覆盖对埃塞俄比亚北部独特且濒临灭绝的非蒙干旱森林生态系统 Desa'a 森林碳储量的影响。研究收集了 57 个地块的木本植被、枯落物、草地生物量和土壤样本数据。在 95% 的置信水平（α = 0.05）下进行了单因素方差分析（ANOVA），以检验树冠覆盖和环境因素对不同碳库碳储量的影响：结果：在已鉴定的 35 个木本物种中，刺柏（Juniperus procera）的优势度最高，而桉树（Carissa edulis Vahl）和球桉（Eucalyptus globulus）的优势度最低。平均总碳储量为 92.89 兆克/公顷-1，包括地上碳、地下碳、枯落物碳、草碳和土壤有机碳。在各碳库中，土壤有机碳的碳储量最高，占总碳量的 76.8%，其次是地上生物质碳，占 17.7%。不同海拔高度和树冠层的碳储量存在显著差异，但坡度和坡向因子不存在显著差异：总之，研究发现海拔高度和树冠层对 Desa'a 森林的碳储量有显著影响，为非洲干旱半干旱森林的保护和气候变化减缓工作提供了有价值的见解。森林干预规划和管理策略应考虑不同环境变量和树冠层的影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Carbon Balance and Management Environmental Science-Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

CiteScore

7.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Carbon Balance and Management is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal that encompasses all aspects of research aimed at developing a comprehensive policy relevant to the understanding of the global carbon cycle. The global carbon cycle involves important couplings between climate, atmospheric CO2 and the terrestrial and oceanic biospheres. The current transformation of the carbon cycle due to changes in climate and atmospheric composition is widely recognized as potentially dangerous for the biosphere and for the well-being of humankind, and therefore monitoring, understanding and predicting the evolution of the carbon cycle in the context of the whole biosphere (both terrestrial and marine) is a challenge to the scientific community. This demands interdisciplinary research and new approaches for studying geographical and temporal distributions of carbon pools and fluxes, control and feedback mechanisms of the carbon-climate system, points of intervention and windows of opportunity for managing the carbon-climate-human system. Carbon Balance and Management is a medium for researchers in the field to convey the results of their research across disciplinary boundaries. Through this dissemination of research, the journal aims to support the work of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) and to provide governmental and non-governmental organizations with instantaneous access to continually emerging knowledge, including paradigm shifts and consensual views.