Metsäntutkimuslaitos Skogsforskningsinstitutet Finnish Forest Research Institute www.metla.fi

Carbon cycle in reference boreal forest ecosystems: Lessons for climate friendly forest management

Ekaterina Shorohova1,2 1Metla, 2 Saint Petersburg State Forest University, Russia

Vantaa, 21.03.2013

Developing the strategy of sustainable forest management and nature conservation

Pristine forests - reference areas

The concept of reference conditions (or range of natural variability or historical range of variability) refers to the following:

ü  the spectrum and variablility of natural conditions in ecosystem composition, structure, and function;

ü  a point of reference against which to evaluate changes in ecosystems ü  a criterion for measuring the success of ecological restoration

treatments and ecosystem management experiments.

What are the ranges of temporal and spatial variability in carbon (C) cycle

in reference forest?

Objectives and Hypotheses

Ø  We examine the factors influencing 1.  the C stores in stand, coarse woody debris (CWD),

litter and soil, 2.  annual and long-term C dynamics in pristine

European boreal forests.

Ø  We hypothesize that the site- and landscape- specific natural disturbance regimes drive the C dynamics.

Photos: Erkki Oksanen, Ekaterina Shorohova

22/03/2013 5 Photos: Saint-Petersburg Forestry Research Institute’s archive, Anton Kuznetsov, Ekaterina Muradova, Alexandr Gladyshev, Ilkka Vanha-Majamaa

Long-term (1913 - …) studies on dynamics of pristine European boreal forests in Russia

C cycle in the CF ecosystems

ATMOSPHERE

PHYTOMASS COARSE WOODY DEBRIS

LITTER AND SOIL

Mortality 1.75-305.1 Mg C ha-1

8.78-247.59 Mg C ha-1

55.99-247.59 МgС hа-1

0.29 – 4.56 Mg C ha-1

Decomposition

0.38- 0.22 МgС hа-1yr-1

Annual C Fluxes in the Stands of CF

8,23

-0,03-0,07-0,050,24

-0,02

-2,19-1,17

-4,56 -5,16

-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

NPP Mortality Litterfall Litterdecomposition

Decompositionof CWD

Mg

C h

a-1 y

r-1

Balance -5.00 +6.18 Mg C ha-1 yr-1

Carbon Dynamics in the Stands With Different Wind Disturbance Regime, VL

Myrtillus type

320340

360380

400

420

440

0-40 40-120 180-200 >500

Time since last disturbance

Tota

l C, M

g/ha

medium

severe

Sphagnum-Myrtillus type

0

500

1000

1500

2000

0-40 40-120 180-200 >500

Time since last disturbance

Tota

l C, M

g/ha

medium

severe

Conclusions

Ø The time since last disturbance, disturbance type and severity as well as site conditions are the main factors influenced carbon stores and fluxes in pristine boreal forests.

Forest management and restoration perspectives

Lessons learnt: • The reference is variable and dynamic. §  Felling intensity and rotation period can mimic

site-specific type of natural disturbances and consequently C dynamics at the stand scale.

§  Natural distribution of forest stands in a landscape by dynamic types can serve as a landscape-scale restoration target.

22/03/2013 11

Thanks! §  Organization of the Vepssky forest reserve and experimental

design of Vepssky research programme: Stanislav Dyrenkov†, Viktor Fedorchuk, Sergey Savitsky†

§  Fieldwork and data processing: Stanislav Dyrenkov†, Viktor Fedorchuk, Sergey Savitsky†, Maria Kuznetsova, Anna Schvarts, Denis Moiseev, Leonid Pegov, Alexandr Ignatyev, Svetlana Savitskaya, Raisa Zotikova, Alexey Shorohov, Boris Ryabinin, Alexandr Gladyshev, Oksana Shvedova, Olga Chapkevich, Dmitrij Dokuchaev†, Anton Kuznetsov, Sergey Tetioukhin, Evgeniy Lemetti, Olga Bystryakova, Yulia Ignatyeva, Ekaterina Kapitsa, Svetlana Stepanova, Ekaterina Trubitsyna, Ekaterina Fedorova, Igor Kazartsev, Kirill Minin, Inga Spalvene, Evgenij Sidorov, Olga Tumasova, Ekaterina Muradova, Olga Shekhaeva, Mikhail Girfanov, Vladislava Girfanova, Sergey Losev, Artur Molev, Dmitryj Malukhin, Olga Lopatnikova, Kirill Minin, Olga Ignatyeva, Maria Evilina, Ekaterina Nikolaeva, Gnitienko Maxim and others.

§  Practical help: §  Director of the natural park Sergey Knyazev, forester Valentin

Butorin, accomodation in Kurba: Antonina Butorina, driver Mikhail Kyurshin†,

§  Director of the Central biosphere Forest Reserve Nikolay Nikolay Korablev, Sergey Shaposhnikov, Natalia Shironya,

§  Chief forest engineer of Kenozersky national park Alexandr Kozykin, forester Nikolay Karmyshin, organization of the expedition in 2005 in Kenozersky park: Denis Mirin,

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Thanks Funding:

http://www.metla.fi/hanke/8532/index-en.htm RESTORE EU project, MC IIF (2009-2013)

Saint-Petersburg Forestry Research Institute

Natural Park “Vepssky les”

Government of the Leningrad region

Russian Foundation for Basic Research (05-04-48476, 06-04-63039, 07-04-00200, 09-04-00209, 09-04-10100)

President of Russia, Government of Russia, MK-3550.2004.4

EU, FP7 MULTIEFFORT

(2012-2014) http://www.metla.fi/hanke/7530/index-en.htm