CARBON ACCUMULATION OF TARSUS FORESTS

Sevda Polat¹ Osman Polat¹ Sedat Tüfekçi¹ Yücel Aksay² Hüseyin Çakıcıoğlu²

1Eastern Mediterranean Forestry Research Institute /Tarsus-TURKEY

2Tarsus Forest Sub-District Directorate /Tarsus-TURKEY

Plan name

Group of

Species

Wood

density

(m³)

BIOMASS QUANTITY (TON) CARBON (TON)

Aboveground

forest

biomass

Under soil

biomass

(Root)

Forest Floor

biomass Total Biomass carbon Soil carbon Total carbon

Karabucak Coniferous 144410 115528 17329 53143 186000 83700 48546 132246

Broad-Leaved 50566 28519 5704 13689 47912 21561 12505 34066

TOTAL 194976 144047 23033 66832 233912 105261 61051 166312

Merkez

Coniferous 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Broad-Leaved 224967 126881 25376 60903 213161 95922 55635 151557

TOTAL 224967 126881 25376 60903 213161 95922 55635 151557

Çamalan Coniferous 21181 16945 2542 7795 27281 12277 7120 19397

Broad-Leaved 1601730 909142 181828 436388 1527358 687311 398641 1085952

TOTAL 1622911 926087 184370 444183 1554639 699588 405761 1105349

Gülek

Coniferous 2693 2154 323 991 3469 1561 905 2466

Broad-Leaved 1177820 668531 133706 320895 1123131 505409 293137 798546

TOTAL 1180513 670685 134029 321886 1126600 506970 294043 801013

Buladan Coniferous 19186 15349 2302 7060 24712 11120 6450 17570

Broad-Leaved 1173900 666306 133261 319827 1119393 503727 292162 795889

TOTAL 1193086 681655 135563 326887 1144105 514847 298612 813459

Cehennemdere

Coniferous 8733 6986 1048 3214 11248 5062 2936 7998

Broad-Leaved 1345455 763680 152736 366567 1282983 577342 334859 912201

TOTAL 1354188 770666 153784 369781 1294231 582404 337795 920199

Çamlıyayla

Coniferous 4946 3957 594 1820 6370 2867 1663 4529

Broad-Leaved 1765687 1002204 200441 481058 1683703 757666 439446 1197113

TOTAL 1770633 1006161 201035 482878 1690073 760533 441109 1201642

Tarsus Forest Sub-District Directorate Total

Group of

Species

Wood

Density

(m³)

Aboveground

forest

biomass

Under soil

biomass

(Root)

Forest floor

biomass Total biomass Biomass carbon Soil carbon Total carbon

Coniferous 201149 160919 24138 74023 259080 116587 67620 184206

Broad-Leaved 7340125 4165263 833052 1999327 6997641 3148938 1826385 4975324

TOTAL 7541274 4326182 857190 2073350 7256721 3265525 1894005 5159530

Material and Method

Tarsus Forest Sub-District Directorate

has 100.521,5 ha productive and

unproductive (degraded) forest area in

the Mediterranean region in Turkey .

Almost all of the forests have been

operated by the state.

Seven forest management plans

(Karabucak, Merkez, Çamalan, Gülek,

Buladan, Cehennemdere, Çamlıyayla),

were prepared for Tarsus forests and

amount of carbon deposition was

calculated in these plans.

Plantation is one of the effective ways

for connecting to the atmospheric

carbon in the biomass and soil.

Karabucak Forest is the first industrial

plantation in Tarsus in Turkey. Turan

Emeksiz Forest is also the one of the

sand dune plantations in

Mediterranean region in Turkey.

Karabucak Forest was planted with

Eucalyptus and Turan Emeksiz Forest

was planted with Eucalyptus and

Stone pine .

Figure 1. Tarsus Forest Sub-District

Directorate Area

Figure 2. Cedar Forest in Tarsus Figure 3. Calabrian pine Forest in Tarsus

Table 1. Carbon Accumulation of Tarsus Forests (Anonymus, 2003)

Karabucak and Turan Emeksiz

Plantation Forests

Figure 4. Biomass, soil and total carbon amounts are in Tarsus Forests

Karabucak and Turan

Emeksiz Forests areas

are 2.550 ha and total

166.312 tons carbon

are sequestrated in

these forests

ecosystems.

Biomass carbon ratio is

63.3 % and soil carbon

ratio is 36.7 % of total

carbon in Tarsus forest

ecosystems .

Figure 5.Karabucak Eucalyptus

Forest

Figure 6. Turan Emeksiz

Stone pine Forest

Result Forests are the major organic carbon pools of the globe. The high

greenhouse gas sequestration potential and function of forests have a

positive effect on climate change. Carbon is sequestrated in biomass

and soils of the forests.

Tarsus Forest Sub-District Directory has got 100.521,5 ha productive

and degraded forest area. These forests are sequestrated 5.159.530

tons carbon.

Introduction The forests consume much CO2 more than other terrestrial ecosystems

and keep carbon for a long time in the bodies. So forests have an

important role in the terrestrial ecosystems.

Forest ecosystems cover large parts of the terrestrial land surface and

are major components of the terrestrial carbon (C) cycle. Most

important, forest ecosystems accumulate organic compounds with long

C residence times in vegetation, detritus and, in particular, the soil by

the process of C sequestration. Trees, the major components of forests,

absorb large amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) by

photosynthesis, and forests return an almost equal amount to the

atmosphere by auto- and heterotrophic respiration. However, a small

fraction of C remaining in forests continuously accumulates in

vegetation, detritus, and soil. Thus, undisturbed forest ecosystems are

important global C sinks (Lorenz and Lal, 2010).

Carbon amounts were calculated for Turkey as 78.0 Mg ha-¹, 5.8 Mg ha -¹

and 83.8 Mg ha-¹ for mineral soil, forest floor and total carbon density,

respectively (Tolunay and Çömez, 2008). Based on FAO statistics, about

234Pg C are stored aboveground in forests, 62 Pg C belowground, 41 Pg C

in dead wood, 23 Pg C in litter, and 398 Pg C in forest soils (Kindermann et

al. 2008: Lorenz and Lal, 2010).

Figure 7. Carbon amount in Karabucak and Turan

Emeksiz Plantation Forests in Tarsus

References ANONYMUS, 2003. Karabucak, Merkez, Çamalan, Gülek, Buladan, Cehennemdere, Çamlıyayla Orman İşletme Şeflikleri

Amenajman Planları (Forest Management Plans), Mersin.

LORENZ, K. and LAL, R., 2010. Carbon Sequestration in Forest Ecosystems, Springer, 298 p.

POLAT, O., AKÇA, E., POLAT, S, and KAPUR, S., 2011. Affect Of Forestry Activities on Sand Dune Management in Eastern

Anatolia: Tarsus Case, Long Term For The Sustainable Water & Land Use International Symposium, Adıyaman, Turkey. p.43-44.

TOLUNAY, D. and ÇÖMEZ, A. 2008. Türkiye Ormanlarında Toprak Ve Ölü Örtüde Depolanmış Organik Karbon Miktarları. Hava

Kirliliği Ve Kontrolü Ulusal Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı, Hatay. s.750-765.

Carbon Accumulation of Tarsus Forests

3.265.525 tons carbon in biomass (aboveground and belowground) and

1.894.005 tons carbon in soil are sequestrated. Total 5.159.530 tons

carbon are sequestrated in the Tarsus forest ecosystems (Table 1.)

Especially, soil organic matter level of Turan Emeksiz Forest was

increased by plantation. Increasing organic matter in soil acts as a sink

for carbon sequestration, which is very crucial for decreasing

greenhouse gases in 21st century (Polat et al., 2011).

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

180000

Biomass carbon Soil carbon Total carbon

ton

Coniferous

Broad-Leaved

Total

0

1.000.000

2.000.000

3.000.000

4.000.000

5.000.000

6.000.000

Biomass carbon Soil carbon Total carbon

ton

Belowground Carbon Turnover In European Forests (Cost Action Fp0803) 28 October - 1 November 2012, Antalya, Turkey.

Forest District Directorates in Turkey