Carbon deposit by stem fraction in 100-year-old coniferous species

Abstract

The paper presents the study results of the atmospheric carbon deposition by the main forest-forming coniferous species, namely European larch and Scots pine, in two forest monitoring sites represented by 100-year-old forest plantations on the territory of the Nikolskaya forest dacha (north-east of the Moscow region) under typical conditions of native fresh blueberry pine forests (B2). It was analyzed that the forest plantations of European larch in terms of the total phytomass of the trunk significantly exceed that of forest plantations of Scots pine, where it turned out to be 34 % less in the latter than in the artificial larch stand; in the total phytomass of the trunk, the proportion of the larch bark fraction was 13,2 %, and in pine cultures — 7,6 %. A clear advantage in carbon deposition of European larch over such a native species as Scots pine was determined, which is actually expressed by a twofold excess in accumulated carbon, which indicates a highly desirable use of European larch as a valuable introduced species for the creation of forest plantations. It has been established that the climatypes of the genus Larix in the geographical plantings of the mixed forest zone, represented by European, Polish and Sukachev’s larch, achieve the maximum silvicultural effect. It is concluded that the deposited carbon correlates with the phytomass of the forest stand, which, in turn, correlates with the stock of stem wood. Knowing the stock of stem wood, to a certain extent one can consider the stock of deposited carbon.