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Biomass storage in low timber productivity Mediterranean forests managed after natural post-fire regeneration in south-eastern Spain

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Abstract

Despite the low timber productivity of Mediterranean Pinus halepensis Mill. forests in south-eastern Spain, they are a valuable carbon sequestration source which could be extended if young stands and understories were considered. We monitored changes in biomass storage of young Aleppo pine stands naturally regenerated after wildfires, with a diachronic approach from 5 to 16 years old, including pine and understory strata, at two different quality sites (dry and semiarid climates). At each site, we set 21 permanent plots and carried out different thinning intensities at two ages, 5 and 10 years after fires. We found similar post-fire regeneration capacity at both sites in terms of total above-ground biomass storage ~6 Mg ha−1 (3 Mg ha−1 of the above-ground pine biomass plus 3 Mg ha−1 of the above-ground understory biomass), but with a contrasting pine layer structure. Generally, across the diachronic study, the earlier thinning reduced biomass stocks at both sites, except for the best quality site (the dry site), where the earliest thinning (applied at post-fire year 5) enlarged carbon storage by 11 % as compared to non-thinned plots. We found root:shoot ratios of an average 0.37 for the pine layer and 0.45 for the understory layer. These results provided new information which not only furthers our understanding of carbon sequestration in low timber productivity Mediterranean forests, but will also help to develop new guidelines for sustainable management adapted to the high-risk terrestrial carbon losses of fire-prone areas.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for its funding and support to the Forest Ecology Researching Group in Projects CYCIT-AGL 2008-03602/FOR; AGL 2011-27747/FOR and CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010: MONTES (CSD 2008-00040). R. Sánchez-Salguero thanks the financial support from University of Córdoba-Campus de Excelencia ceiA3. We also wish to thank the Regional Forestry Services of Castilla-La Mancha and Murcia for providing the research sites and Helen Warburton for the language review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Production and Agricultural Technology, ETSIA, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071, Albacete, Spain

    Raquel Alfaro-Sánchez, Francisco R. López-Serrano, Daniel Moya & Jorge De Las Heras

  2. Department of Applied Physics, School of Industrial Engineering, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071, Albacete, Spain

    Eva Rubio

  3. Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zurcherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Raúl Sánchez-Salguero

  4. Dpto. Ingeniería Forestal, Laboratorio de Dendrocronología, Universidad de Cordoba, Campus de Rabanales, N-IV, km 396, 14071, Córdoba, Spain

    Raúl Sánchez-Salguero

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  1. Raquel Alfaro-Sánchez
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  2. Francisco R. López-Serrano
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  3. Eva Rubio
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Correspondence to Raquel Alfaro-Sánchez.

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Communicated by M. del Rio.

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Alfaro-Sánchez, R., López-Serrano, F.R., Rubio, E. et al. Biomass storage in low timber productivity Mediterranean forests managed after natural post-fire regeneration in south-eastern Spain. Eur J Forest Res 133, 793–807 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-014-0797-3

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