Effects of climate and forest age on the ecosystem carbon exchange of afforestation

Abstract

Afforestation is believed to be an effective practice to reduce global warming by sequestering large amounts of carbon in plant biomass and soil. However, the factors that determine the rate of carbon sequestration with afforestation are still poorly understood. We analyzed ecosystem carbon exchange after afforestation based on eddy covariance measurements with the aim to identify factors responsible for the rate of carbon exchange following afforestation. The results indicated that afforestation in the tropical/subtropical and temperate climate zones had greater capacities for carbon sequestration than those in boreal zones. Net ecosystem production (NEP), gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (RE) varied greatly with age groups over time. Specifically, NEP was initially less than zero in the < 10 year group and then increased to its peak in the 10–20 year group. Afforestation of varied previous land use types and planting of diverse tree species did not result in different carbon fluxes. The general linear model showed that climate zone and age of afforestation were the dominant factors influencing carbon sequestration. These factors jointly controlled 51%, 61% and 63% of the variation in NEP, GPP and RE, respectively. Compared to the strong regulation of climate on GPP and RE, NEP showed greater sensitivity to the age of afforestation. These results increase our understanding of the variation in ecosystem carbon exchange of afforestation and suggest that afforestation in subtropical and temperate areas after 20 years would yield greater carbon sink benefits than would afforestation of boreal regions.

Keywords

Afforestation / Carbon sequestration / Eddy covariance / Climate / Age

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