Carbon Stocks in 40-year Scots Pine Crops

Abstract

The paper presents an assessment of carbon stocks in components of above-ground phytomass of the tree layer of 40-year Scots pine crops (Pinus sylvestris L.) growing in different forest conditions of the Baltic-Belozersky taiga region of the European North of Russia. The studied pine crops were created on fresh, unsodded clearings with a low degree of litter in lichen, lingonberry and bilberry types of forest growth conditions, which are characterized by significant differences in bioproductive potential. It was found that the smallest carbon pool is formed in the stand of a 40-year pine stand of lichen-type culture-phytocenosis (16.59 t/ha), the largest – in the blueberry type of habitat conditions (69.41 t/ha). In artificially created 40-year lingonberry pine forest, carbon stocks in the above-ground phytomass of the tree layer have an intermediate position (44.40 t/ha). The highest relative value of bound carbon is reached in such component of aboveground phytomass as trunk wood. The share of carbon stocks in this fraction of the total aboveground phytomass of the forest stand of the studied pine cenoses varies from 59.5 % in lichen type of habitat conditions to 75.6 % in blueberry one. Branches and needles have close quantitative values of carbon stocks and similar structure of differentiation along the forest typological gradient, occupying a secondary position in the carbon pool of the forest stand of the studied artificial pine forests after stem wood. The proportion of carbon bound by these fractions of aboveground phytomass of the stand decreases from the least productive lichen pine forest to the more productive blueberry pine forest. The share of carbon accumulated by stem bark in the total carbon pool of aboveground phytomass of the stand of the studied artificial pine forests tends to decrease from lichen pine forest to blueberry pine forest. The fraction of dry branches has the smallest percentage of carbon stocks in the tree stand in all studied forest conditions (2.3–5.9 %). For citation: Klevtsov D.N., Tyukavina O.N. Carbon Stocks in 40-year Scots Pine Crops. Lesnoy Zhurnal = Russian Forestry Journal, 2023, no. 5, pp. 195–203. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.37482/0536-1036-2023-5-195-203