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