Carbon storage and uptake in primary and continuity forests

The carbon (C) and climate impact of Swedish and boreal forest management is not well characterized, partly because unmanaged primary forests and selectively logged continuity forests have not previously been mapped or targeted in inventories.

Preliminary analysis of primary forests using a unique map suggests that their productivity is increasing rapidly and that they are large stores of C.

It is however not known if the productivity increase leads to C sequestration, and more sampling is needed to robustly quantify C storage in primary and continuity forests.

This project will fill these knowledge gaps by sampling and investigating C storage and uptake in primary and continuity forests in Sweden, and contrast these management types to conevtional rotation-managed forests.

Continuity forests will be mapped and previously not revisited forest inventory plots from 1996 and forward will be revisited in primary (>500 available plots) and continuity forests (>1500 available plots) and sampled for changes in live and dead vegetation C, soil C storage and nutrients. Live and dead trees will be cored for fire history and timing of death.

This novel data in combination with existing datasets and inventories will be used to investigate how different management types affect C uptake and storage, what environmental and landscape history factors drive variations between locations, and how tree mortality and C storage may change in a future potentially more extreme climate.