Carbon Stock of Larch Plantations and Its Comparison with an Old-growth Forest in Northeast China

The overall goal of this study was to understand carbon(C) stock dynamics in four different-aged Japanese larch(Larix kaempferi) plantations in Northeast China that were established after clear-cutting old-growth Korean pine deciduous forests. Four Japanese larch plantations which were at 10, 15, 21, and 35 years old and an old-growth Korean pine deciduous forest which was 300 years old in Northeast China were selected and sampled. We compared the C pools of biomass(tree, shrub and herb), litterfall(LF), and soil organic carbon(SOC) among them. The biomass C stock of larch plantation at 10, 15, 21, and 35 years old was 26.8, 37.9, 63.6, and 83.2 Mg/ha, respectively, while the biomass C stock of the old-growth Korean pine deciduous forest was 175.1 Mg/ha. The SOC stock of these larch plantations was 172.1, 169.7, 140.3, and 136.2 Mg/ha respectively, and SOC stock of 170.4 Mg/ha in the control of old-growth forest. The biomass C stock increased with stand age of larch plantations, whereas SOC stock decreased with age, and C stock of LF did not change significantly(P > 0.05). The increase of biomass C offset the decline of SOC stock with age, making total carbon stock(TCS) of larch plantations stable from stand ages of 10–35 years. The TCS in larch plantations was much smaller than that in the old-growth forest, suggesting that the conversion of old-growth forests to young larch plantations releases substantial C into the atmosphere.