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- Title
Change in total carbon stocks eight years after afforestation of a sub-humid grassland catchment with Pinus and Eucalyptus species.
- Authors
du Preez, C. C.; Lebenya, R. M.; van Huyssteen, C. W.
- Abstract
Climate change is driving the impetus for carbon sequestration. Compared to other countries, little is known about C sequestration after grassland conversion to plantation forestry in South Africa. To this aim 27 sites were studied in the Weatherley catchment in the north eastern part of the Eastern Cape Province. About half of this 160 ha grassed catchment was planted to Pinus elliottii, Pinus patula, and Eucalyptus nitens. Soil organic carbon was measured in detail at the 27 sites before and eight years after afforestation, and augmented with litter and above-ground biomass measurements. The total C stocks for the different tree species and grassland areas were lowest for the grassland area (43.6 Mg C ha−1) and highest for the Pinus patula and Eucalyptus nitens areas (90.0 and 91.6 Mg C ha−1 respectively). In general, the afforested catchment aboveground C stocks contributed about a third to the total C stocks. Afforested soils in the poorly drained class had the lowest total C stocks (69.6 Mg C ha−1) compared to the freely drained soil group, which had 87.7 Mg C ha−1. Poorly and freely drained soil conditions therefore seemed to restrain tree growth while C sequestration was promoted on moderately drained soils. Afforestation contributed a total gain of 2 187 Mg C to the catchment, at a rate of 273 Mg C a−1 or 3.59 Mg C ha−1 a−1 for the afforested area only. The C sequestration rate by the plantation forest system was therefore 2.6 times that of the grassland system.
- Subjects
EASTERN Cape (South Africa); SOUTH Africa; EUCALYPTUS; AFFORESTATION; GRASSLANDS; PINE; SLASH pine; CARBON sequestration
- Publication
New Forests, 2022, Vol 53, Issue 2, p267
- ISSN
0169-4286
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11056-021-09854-1