Carbon storage and CO2 uptake In Oak coppice stand (Case study: north-west of Iran)

The carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystems plays role in regulation CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. With regard to the effects of forest stands in carbon sequestration, this study attempted to investigate the carbon storage potential and CO2 uptake in oak coppice stand. After overlaying the slope, aspect and hypsometric maps, the number of land units (polygons) as well as their areas were determined. Then 60 sample trees were selected in all environmental and typological conditions. After determining the overall weight of different parts of trees, to measure the dry weight for determining the amount of phytomass, different parts of trees were transformed to a kiln. The humus was collected and weighted in the area about 400 cm(2) under each tree. The quantity of ash was taken away from biomass, and then the amount of organic sequestrated carbon (and its equivalent CO2 uptake) were measured. The amount of organic sequestrated carbon was 1.49 t ha(-1) year(-1) that equal to 5.52 Mg ha(-1) year(-1)Co(2) uptake from atmosphere. Coppice stands could have massive plant coverage as well as an increase in biomass production if the destructive factors are removed from these areas.