IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v8y2017i1d10.1038_s41467-017-00207-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Carbon stocks and changes of dead organic matter in China's forests

Author

Listed:
  • Jianxiao Zhu

    (Peking University)

  • Huifeng Hu

    (State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Shengli Tao

    (Peking University)

  • Xiulian Chi

    (Peking University)

  • Peng Li

    (Peking University)

  • Lai Jiang

    (Peking University)

  • Chengjun Ji

    (Peking University)

  • Jiangling Zhu

    (Peking University)

  • Zhiyao Tang

    (Peking University)

  • Yude Pan

    (US Department of Agriculture Forest Service)

  • Richard A. Birdsey

    (Falmouth)

  • Xinhua He

    (Southwest University)

  • Jingyun Fang

    (Peking University
    State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

Forests play an important role in global carbon cycles. However, the lack of available information on carbon stocks in dead organic matter, including woody debris and litter, reduces the reliability of assessing the carbon cycles in entire forest ecosystems. Here we estimate that the national DOM carbon stock in the period of 2004–2008 is 925 ± 54 Tg, with an average density of 5.95 ± 0.35 Mg C ha−1. Over the past two decades from periods of 1984−1988 to 2004−2008, the national dead organic matter carbon stock has increased by 6.7 ± 2.2 Tg carbon per year, primarily due to increasing forest area. Temperature and precipitation increase the carbon density of woody debris, but decrease that of litter. Additionally, the woody debris increases significantly with above ground biomass and forest age. Our results can improve estimates of the carbon budget in China's forests and for better understanding of effects of climate and stand characteristics on dead organic matter distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Jianxiao Zhu & Huifeng Hu & Shengli Tao & Xiulian Chi & Peng Li & Lai Jiang & Chengjun Ji & Jiangling Zhu & Zhiyao Tang & Yude Pan & Richard A. Birdsey & Xinhua He & Jingyun Fang, 2017. "Carbon stocks and changes of dead organic matter in China's forests," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-00207-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00207-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00207-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-017-00207-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-00207-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.