Carbon storage in managed forests

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The mass of C stored in forests is an important component of the global C cycle. A general model is developed to relate average C storage over the lifetime of a forest managed for sustained yield to the maximal biomass of the same forest at maturity. Point of infection of stand growth is established using the Richards function. If a forest is managed for maximum sustained yield of biomass, mean lifetime C storage is about 1/3 that at maturity. Point of growth inflection has little effect on this fraction. When accumulation and decomposition of detritus after harvest are added, the fraction is about 0.5 in temperature deciduous forests, less in the tropics and more in boreal forests. Harvest at financial maturity, by shortening the rotation, disproportionately reduces lifetime C storage to perhaps 0.2 of the maximum. Nontimber values may affect C storage either positively or negatively. Forest regrowth and multispecies agricultural systems that include trees may account for more C storage in the tropics than is sometimes assumed.