Heartwood and carbon in NW Russian pine trees

Heartwood (HW) has a major proportion of a tree trunk, compared with its outer sapwood (SW). Researchers investigated the carbon accumulation to understand the depths of carbon sequestration in pine species in north-western Russia. They mentioned that 64% of the forests of Russian Karelia are Scots Pine which they compared across lingonberry (30% Karelia, 42%…

Carbon update from the Ladoga polygon

The Ladoga polygon is part of a network of carbon monitoring sites, with Ladoga providing data for this north-west region of Russia. It stores large volumes of carbon in soils, approx 208 tC/ha which is the largest volume outside of permafrost affected soil. The region has not had any significant agricultural activity for over 40…

Climate Change and organic carbon in Rostov soils

Research has shown that there is an accumulation limit for organic carbon in Chernozem (black) soils, resulting in carbon emissions once that limit has been reached. Agricultural management practices can include crop rotation, fallowing, residue management and fertilisation to counter the less carbon-rich soils as they arise. The researchers previously studied a 40 year period…

Exploring the ‘carbon polygon’ of Ladoga

Sustainable soil management (SSM) initiatives review organic matter in soil and carbon sequestration to understand how best to mitigate carbon and methane emissions, improving mitigation of climate change. In Russia, the government established a ‘Carbon Polygons’ project assessing and monitoring carbon in different ecosystems and biomes, especially boreal forest regions. The researchers wanted to assess…