Estimation of the carbon storage of forest vegetation and carbon emission from forest fires in Heilongjiang Province, China

Abstract

The forest resource of Heilongjiang province has important position in china. On the basis of the six times of national forest inventory data (1973–1976, 1977–1981, 1985–1988, 1989–1993, 1994–1998, 1999–2003) surveyed by the Forestry Ministry of P. R. China from 1973 to 2003, the carbon storage of forests in Heilongjiang Province are estimated by using the method of linear relationship of each tree species between biomass and volume. The results show that the carbon storage of Heilongjiang forests in the six periods (1973–1976, 1977–1981, 1985–1988, 1989–1993, 1994–1998, 1999–2003) are 7.164×10⁸t, 4.871×10⁸t, 5.094×10⁸t, 5.292×10⁸t, 5.594×10⁸ t and 5.410×10⁸t, respectively., which showed a trend of decreasing in early time and then increasing. It indicated that Heilongjiang forests play an important role as a sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide during past 30 years. Based on the data of forest fires from 1980 to 1999 and ground biomass estimation for some forest types in Heilongjiang Province, it is estimated that the amount of mean annual consumed biomass of forests is 391758.65t–522344.95t, accounting for 6.4%–8.4% of total national consummation from forest fires, and the amount of carbon emission is 176 291.39t–235 055.23t, about 8% of total national emission from forest fires. The emission of CO₂, CO, CH₄ and NMHC from forest fires in Heilongjiang Province are estimated at 581761.6–775682.25 t, 34892.275–46523.04 t, 14091.11–18788.15 t and 6500–9000 t, respectively, every year.

Keywords

Forest vegetation / Carbon storage / Forest fire / Biomass / Carbon emission

References

[1] Alexeyev V., Birdsey R., Stakanov V. et al. Carbon in vegetation of Russian forests: Methods to estimate storage and geographical distribution Water Air Soil Poll., 1995, 82: 271-282.

[2] Apps M.J., Kurz W.A. Kanninen M. The role of Canadian forests in the global carbon budget Carbon Balance of World’s Forested Ecosystems: Towards a Global Assessment, 1994 Finland: SILMU 12-20.

[3] Aulair A.N.D., Carter T.B. Forest wildfires as a recent source of CO₂ at northern latitudes Can. J. For. Res., 1993, 23: 1528-1536.

[4] Brown S., Iverson L.R. Biomass estimates for tropical forests World Resour Rev., 1992, 4: 366-384.

[5] Cao J., Zhang Y., Liu Y. Changes in forest biomass carbon storage in Hainan Island over the last 20 years Geogr. Res., 2002, 21(5): 551-560.

[6] Crutzen P.J., Andreae M.O. Biomass burning in the tropics: impact on the atmospheric chemistry and biogeochemical cycles Science, 1990, 250: 1669-1678.

[7] Cruzten P.J., Heidt L.E., Krasnec J.P. et al. Biomass burning as a source of the atmospheric gases CO,H₂,N₂O,NO,CH₃Cl and COS Nature, 1979, 282: 253-256.

[8] Ding S., Liang G. Changes of Forest Vegetation Stocks and Dynamic Change in the Past 20 Years in Luoning County Resour Sci., 2004, 26(3): 105-108.

[9] Dixon R.K., Brown S., Houguton R.A. et al. Carbon pools and flux of global forest ecosystem [J]. Science, 1994, 262: 185-190.

[10] Fang J., Chen A. Dynamic forest biomass carbon pools in China and their significance Acta. Bot. Sin., 2001, 43(9): 967-973.

[11] Fang J., Liu G., Xu C. Biomass and net production of forest vegetation in China Acta. Ecol. Sin., 1996, 16(5): 497-508.

[12] Fang J.Y., Wang G.G., Liu G.H. et al. Forest biomass of China: An estimate based on the biomass-volume relationship Ecol. Appl., 1998, 8(4): 1984-1091.

[13] Fang J.Y. Changs in forest biomass carbon storage in China between 1949 and 1998 Science, 2001, 292: 2320-2322.

[14] Goldammer J.G., Crutzen P.J. Fire in the Environment: The Ecological, Atmospheric and Climtic Importance of Vegetation Fires [M], 1993 New York: John Wiley & Sons 1-14.

[15] Jiang Y., Zhou G. Carbon equilibrium in Larix gmelinii forest and impact of global change on it [J]. Chin. J. Appl. Ecol., 2001, 12(4): 481-484.

[16] Jin S., Hu H. Study on forest fire spatial and temporal dynamics in Heilongjiang Province (I) Scientia Silvae Sinicae, 2002, 38(1): 88-94.

[17] Jin S. Study on forest fire regime of Heilongjiang ProvinceIII. Relationships between forest fires and forest types on a large scale Scientia Silvae Sinicae, 2002, 38(4): 171-175.

[18] Laursen K.K., Hobbsand P.V., Radke L.F. Some trace gas emission from North American biomass fires with an assessment of regional and global fluxes from biomass burning J. Geophys. Res., 1992, 97: 20687-20701.

[19] Levine J.S. Biomass buring, a driver for global change Environ. Sci. Technol., 1995, 120: 120-125.

[20] Liu G., Fu B., Fang J. Carbon dynamics of Chinese forests and its contribution to global carbon balance Acta. Ecol. Sin., 2000, 20(5): 733-740.

[21] Liu G., Xu C., Fang J. Biomass and net production of forest vegetation in China Acta Ecol. Sin., 1996, 16(5): 497-508.

[22] Olson J.S., Watts J.A., Allison L.J. Carbon in Live Vegetation of Major World Ecosystems. Report ORNL-258620, 1983 Oak Ridge, Tenn.: Oak Ridge National Laboratory 15-25.

[23] Seiler W., Crutzen P.J. Estimates of gross and net fluexs of carbon between the biosphere and the atmosphere from biomass burning Climatic Change, 1980, 2: 207-248.

[24] Tian X., Shu L., Wang M. Direct carbon emissions from Chinese forest fires, 1991–2000 Fire Safety Science, 2003, 12(1): 6-10.

[25] Turner D.P., Koepper G.J., Harmon M.E. et al. A carbon budget for forests of the conterminous United States Ecol. Appl., 1995, 5: 421-436.

[26] Wang B., Wu J., Wu Z. Organic carbon storage in the vegetation biomass in secondary forest region of Ziwuling Mountain Acta. Bot. Boreal-Occident Sin., 2004, 24(10): 1870-1876.

[27] Wang S., Zhou C., Luo C. Studying carbon storage spatial distribution of terrestrial natural vegetation in China Prog. Geogr., 1999, 18(3): 238-244.

[28] Wang X., Feng Z. Rusong W. The history of research on biomass and carbon storage of forest ecosystems [R] Hot Topics in Modern Ecology, 1995 Beijing: China Science and Technology Press 335-347.

[29] Wang X., Feng Z. The potential to sequester atmospheric carbon through forest ecosystems in China [J]. Chin. J. Ecol., 2000, 19(4): 72-74.

[30] Wang X., Zhuang Y., Feng Z. Carbon dioxide release due to change in land use in China mainland J. Environ Sci., 1994, 6: 287-295.

[31] Wang X., Zhuang Y., Feng Z. Estimation of carbon-containing gases released from forest fire Advances in Environmental Science, 1998, 6(4): 1-15.

[32] Wong C.S. Carbon input to the atmosphere from forest fires Science, 1979, 204: 210

[33] Yan X., Zhao S. Simulation model of carbon storage dynamics in temperate broadleaved-Coniferous mixed forest ecosystem: 1. Dynamics of carbon storage in tree layer Chin. J. Ecol., 1995, 14(2): 6-12.

[34] Yokelson R.J., Ward D.E., Susott R.A. et al. Emissions from smoldering combustion from biomass measured by open-path flourier transform infrared spectroscopy Geophys. Res., 1997, 102: 18865-18877.

[35] Zhang D., Sang W., Li Y. et al. Forest organic carbon storage and its trend in shandong Province Acta Phytoecol. Sin., 2002, 26: 93-97.

[36] Zhou Y., Yu Z., Zhao S. Carbon storage and budget of major Chinese forest types Acta Phytoecol. Sin., 2000, 24(5): 518-552.