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Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2015, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (3): 1-7.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.20150301

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Phytolith-Occluded Carbon in Litters of Different Stands in the Subtropics of China

Ying Yuqi1, Xiang Tingting1, Lin Weilei1, Wu Jiasen1,2, Yang Jie1, Jiang Peikun1,2   

  1. 1. School of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang A & F University Lin'an 311300;
    2. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Carbon Cycling in Forest Ecosystems and Carbon Sequestration Zhejiang A & F University Lin'an 311300
  • Received:2014-04-29 Revised:2015-01-21 Online:2015-03-25 Published:2015-04-10

Abstract:

【Objective】 Phytolith-occluded organic carbon (PhytOC) in forest ecosystem is a long-term (decades to millennia) mechanism for sequestrating soil organic carbon and has a vital significance to the global carbon sequestration. This study aims to estimate PhytOC stocks in the forest litter layer under China's subtropical forests. 【Method】 Liters of 5 common types of China's subtropical stands were studied, by collecting litters under forests and samples of 0~10 cm of topsoil. Furthermore, we calculated current litter biomass and determined soil density. The phytolith in the litter and soils were extracted by microwave digestion method,and the phytolith occluded carbon (PhytOC) content in the litter and soils were determined. 【Result】 The SiO2 contents in the litter under different stands were in the following order: Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) (152.50 g·kg-1) > broad leaved (13.96 g·kg-1) > mixed coniferous and broad-leaved (12.55 g·kg-1) > Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) (7.62 g·kg-1) > Masson pine (Pinus massoniana) (6.59 g·kg-1).The phytolith contents in the litters under different forests were in the following order: Moso bamboo (180.20 g·kg-1) > broad leaved (14.67 g·kg-1) > mixed coniferous and broad-leaved (11.49 g·kg-1) > Masson pine (11.36 g·kg-1) > Chinese fir (5.58 g·kg-1).The PhytOC contents in the litters under different stands were in the following order: Moso bamboo (4.34 g·kg-1) > broad leaved (1.07 g·kg-1) > mixed coniferous and broad-leaved (1.04 g·kg-1) > Masson pine (0.67 g·kg-1) > Chinese fir (0.50 g·kg-1).The current litter biomass under 5 stand types was in the following order: broad leaved (3.20 kg·m-2) > Masson pine (2.51kg·m-2) > mixed coniferous and broad-leaved (2.38 kg·m-2) > Chinese fir (1.88 kg·m-2) > Moso bamboo (1.45 kg·m-2). There were strong linear relationships between SiO2 contents and phytolith contents in the litter under different forest types (R2= 0.940 5, P<0.01), phytolith contents and PhytOC contents in the litters under 5 stands (R2= 0.950 0,P<0.01) as well as occluded carbon contents in phytolith and PhytOC contents in the litters under 5 stand types (R2=0.701 8,P<0.01). The PhytOC stocks in the litter layer under forests of Moso bamboo, Chinese fir, Masson pine, broad leaved, and mixed coniferous and broad-leaved were 0.231, 0.034, 0.062, 0.125, and 0.090 tCO2·hm-2, respectively; the PhytOC stocks in 0~10 cm soil layer for Moso bamboo, Chinese fir, Masson pine, broad leaved, and mixed coniferous and broad-leaved stand were 0.492, 0.217, 0.352, 0.362, and 0.448 tCO2·hm-2, respectively; 【Conclusion】 The above-mentioned results showed that PhytOC was returned to the soil through litterfall of all the 5 stand types, and the largest PhytOC content in the litter as well as the largest PhytOC stock in litter and the soils was obtained from Moso bamboo. Assuming a litter biomass of 3.6 t·hm-2a-1 under Moso bamboo, the PhytOC sequestration rate in the litter layer under subtropical Moso bamboo forest in China's subtropics to be 0.057 tCO2·hm-2a-1. The PhytOC stock data of the litters of 5 stand types provided a scientific basis for evaluation of PhytOC sequestration potentials in China's subtropical forest ecosystem.

Key words: phytolith, subtropical forest, carbon sequestration, PhytOC

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