Forest ecosystem carbon accumulation during a secondary succession in the Eastern Prealps of Italy

Abstract

Land use changes represent one of the most important components of global environmental change. In most European countries, the transformed economies and social conditions of previous decades have had consequences in terms of agriculture intensification, industrialization and migration of people from the rural areas. As a consequence, areas of marginal agriculture were abandoned leading to secondary successions. This research studied the effects of the natural recovery of abandoned lands on carbon pools using a chronosequence approach of mixed ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) and sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus L.) stands in the Eastern Italian Prealps. A series of five formerly cultivated sites spanning a range of 40-75 years since agricultural abandonment and a meadow were selected. The dominant sink for the atmospheric CO2 within these secondary forests seems to be live wood while the soil played a much smaller role. The ecosystem carbon stock increased at a mean rate of 1.18 Mg C ha-1 y-1 during the chronosequence. However, a difference in the carbon accumulation in the different pools was detected. © Institute of Chartered Foresters, 2008. All rights reserved.