Organic Carbon Stocks in the Forest Soils of Northern Mongolia
Journal Title: Lesnoy Zhurnal (Russian Forestry Journal) - Year 2020, Vol 8, Issue 2
Abstract
Soil organic carbon (SOC) stock and its variation on the regional and large spatial scales are critical for estimating the global SOC inventory and predicting further changes. This study was aimed at estimation of the SOC stock in the boreal forests of Northern Mongolia. The study was carried out in the forested areas of the Bulgan, Selenge and Tuv provinces using a completely randomized design. A total of 900 soil samples from 60 sampling points were collected for the laboratory analyses. At each point, a soil profile with a depth of more than 30 cm was laid out, and then soil samples were taken from three soil layers: 0–5, 5–15, and 15–30 cm of each profile. Therefore, the results of the assessment show a high difference of the SOC stock not only between the provinces, but also within each province. The higher SOC stocks were observed in the Selenge (123.5±14.85 t/ha), and lowest in the Tuv (51.23±7.8 t/ha) provinces. The estimated SOC stock in the studied regions was 93.77 t/ha on average. We found relatively less SOC stock in the boreal forests of Mongolia compared with the Asian part of Russia including Siberia and the Russian Far East. Such a less SOC stock may be caused by geographical distribution, where the Mongolian forests border the Central Asian dry steppe and frequent water deficit. However, we found that the accumulation of SOC stocks in the boreal forests of Mongolia is largely dependent on the mountain slopes and aspects combined with the distribution of precipitation across the country. Higher amount of SOC stocks were found in north-facing aspects and lower positions with low slopes of the mountains in lower altitude. Consequently, moisture supply basically determines the pattern of the SOC stock distribution in the northern boreal forests of Mongolia.
Authors and Affiliations
М. Tungalag, S. Gerelbaatar, A. I. Lobanov
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP683272
- DOI 10.37482/0536-1036-2020-2-169-176
- Views 277
- Downloads 0
Bioenergetic and Reproductive Plantations of True Poplar Species in the Central Black Earth Region of Russia
The need to use fast-growing tree for bioenergy production was noted in the international and domestic press in the second half of the 20th century. In the first twenty years of the current century in a number of countri...
Optimization of Tall Oil Pitch Saponification by Experimental Design
Sustainable recycling of wood chemical production wastes is one of the current issues of modern technology. As a by-product of the pulp and paper industry, tall oil pitch has found application as a potential source of ph...
Highly Productive Pine Forests in a Changing Climate
Forest steppe of the Central Chernozem Region (CCR) of Russia belongs to the zone of highly productive pine forests. In 2015, for the first time a partial destabilization of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) was recorded...
Influence of Highly Active Compounds on Mechanical Properties of Wood of Two-Year-Old Scots Pine Seedlings in Forest Nurseries
Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) has the leading environment-forming function. Also, the pine is an economically valuable tree species in the Ural region. The long-term use of the pesticide complex in forest nurseries ha...
Effective Positioning in Cutting Area of a Harvester Using Computer Modelling
An improvement of methods and models for preliminary estimation of the performance of harvesters in timber production intends to support better justification of the use of certain harvester types and technologies for spe...