Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2025, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (10): 1721-1732.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2024.0300  cstr: 32100.14.cjpe.2024.0300

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Carbon density and distribution characteristics of two typical shrublands in Dongling Mountain, Beijing

ZHANG Jian-Hua1, ZHOU Xiao-Yang2, DUAN Shan-Shan1, BAI Jia-Ni1, XU Long-Chao2,*()   

  1. 1Department of Biology, Xinzhou Normal University, Xinzhou, Shanxi 034000, China
    2College of Environment and Ecology, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030600, China
  • Received:2024-09-06 Accepted:2025-03-04 Online:2025-10-20 Published:2025-05-07
  • Contact: XU Long-Chao
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(31700413);National Science Foundation of China - Shanxi Coal-Based Low Carbon Joint Fund(U1910207);Shanxi Provincial Key Research Base Project of Humanities and Social Sciences in Colleges and Universities(20210122);The Basic Research Program of Shanxi Province (Free Exploration)(202203021221224)

Abstract:

Aims Shrublands is an indispensable part of estimating carbon density in terrestrial ecosystems, and the expansion of shrublands is considered as one of the key drivers leading to the increase of carbon density in terrestrial ecosystems in China, but there are great uncertainties in the carbon sink capacities of shrublands. We aimed to estimate the carbon density and distribution characteristics of common shrublands in North China.
Methods The carbon density and distribution characteristics of two typical shrublands (Caragana jubata and Carpinus turczaninowii shrublands) in Dongling Mountain, Beijing, were measured based on the field investigation data and by employing allometric approach.
Important findings The results showed that the carbon density (427.59 t·hm-2) of Caragana jubata shrubland was significantly higher than that of the Carpinus turczaninowii shrubland (178.19 t·hm-2), in which the carbon storage of soil layer was the largest (98.53% and 81.31%), and the carbon storage were 421.29 t·hm-2 and 144.89 t·hm-2, respectively. Soil organic carbon was enriched in the 0-50 cm soil layer, and showed a decreasing trend with increasing soil depth. The organic carbon density in different soil layers of the Caragana jubata shrubland is higher than that of the Carpinus turczaninowii shrubland, mainly due to the lower temperature and smaller slope in the distribution area of Caragana jubata shrubland, which is conducive to the accumulation of organic matter. The contribution of the shrub layer and the arbor-shrub layer to the carbon density of the entire ecosystem were relatively small (1.27% and 17.77%), with values of 5.44 and 31.69 t·hm-2, respectively. The carbon density of different organs in the arbor layer was in the order of trunk > root > branch > leaf, while the order of carbon density in the shrub layer was branch > root > leaf in both shrublands. Moreover, the carbon density of each organ in the shrub layer of Caragana jubata shrubland was significantly lower than that in the Carpinus turczaninowii shrubland. The herbaceous layer and litter layer contributed the least to the total carbon density of Caragana jubata and Carpinus turczaninowii shrublands (0.20% and 0.91%), with values of 0.86 and 1.62 t·hm-2, respectively. The carbon density of the herbaceous layer (0.55 t·hm-2) in Caragana jubata shrubland was significantly higher than that (0.35 t·hm-2) in Carpinus turczaninowii shrublands. Moreover, carbon density of the aboveground and underground parts of the herbaceous layer in Caragana jubata shrubland was similar, while in Carpinus turczaninowii shrubland, the aboveground carbon density was significantly lower than that of the underground part. The carbon density of the litter layer (1.27 t·hm-2) in Carpinus turczaninowii shrubland was significantly higher than that (0.31 t·hm-2) in Caragana jubata shrubland.

Key words: shrubland, carbon density, ecosystem, carbon sink, Dongling Mountain