Soil C Quantification and CO2 Efflux in the Boreal Forest, James Bay, Canada

Jessica Lagacé-Banville, Michelle Garneau
GEOTOP-UQAM-McGill and Department of Geography,
Université du Québec à Montréal

David Paré
Natural ressources Canada, Canadian Forest Services,
Laurentian Forestry Centre

The Boreal forest contains about 50% of the total organic carbon stored in forest ecosystems, and in these forests, the largest reservoir is the soil, because low temperatures promote net accumulation of organic C (Dioumaeva et al. 2003) These types of forest covers nearly 3 million km2, consequently, it can significantly influence the global carbon cycle (Kurz et al. 2002). Forest ecosystems take up atmospheric CO2 by converting into organic C through photosynthesis. Various physico-chemical and microbial properties of boreal forest soils regulating soil organic C (SOC) accumulation and decomposition are poorly understood. In this study, we present data on the quantity and quality of SOC in five different boreal forest types in the northern Quebec.

The aims of our research are to (1) determine the role of several site-specfic variables influencing carbon storage such as forest stand composition, age, litter quality and production rate, as well as soil properties such as chemistry, drainage and texture, and (2) determine labile vs recalcitrant fractions of the SOC carbon as well as reactivity to temperature as related to the site characteristics described above. Results showed that litterfall, soil drainage class, and clay contents correlate significantly with the SOC contents in different forest types. Forest stand age and litter fall have a bearing on SOC accumulation rates. Forest type does not seem to affect SOC accumulation. Moreover, results suggest that drainage is a main driver of SOC accumulation.

This project is still underway and we are currently measuring SOC mineralization rates under variable soil temperature regimes (2, 14 and 29 oC) in vitro to determine site specific difference in SOC quality and reactivity to temperature across forest stand types.


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