Evaluating the Spatio-Temporal Change of Forest Carbon Stocks in Northern Turkiye

Abstract

Forests represent important carbon pools among terrestrial ecosystems and play an important role in mitigating the impact of global warming. Changes in land use and forest planning systems affect the spatiotemporal distribution of forest carbon stocks. In this study, the total carbon stocks of the forest stands were calculated, and spatial and temporal changes of the carbon stock were investigated for the 1996, 2009, and 2018 planning periods in Ilgaz Forest Enterprise, T & uuml;rkiye. Growing stock volume (GSV) was obtained from the forest management plans of Ilgaz Forest Enterprise. GSV-based carbon conversion coefficients were used to calculate the total carbon stock of the forest stands. Mapping the total carbon stock of forest stands was done using stand maps from forest management plans. Our results indicate that changes in land use contributed to enhanced forest carbon stock in the study region. Forest stands stored a total of 7.56, 9.65, and 10.22 MtC over the planning periods of 1996, 2009, and 2018, respectively. While the forest carbon stocks per hectare was 113.4 tC ha(-1) in the planning period of 1996, it was 125.1 tC ha(-1) in 2018. This was an increase of +11.7 tC ha(-1) over 22 years. In the 22 year planning period covering 1996 and 2018, the increase in productive forest areas, expansion of protection oriented functions, and the moderate silvicultural treatments applied to the forest stands positively affected on the carbon stock increase in the study region.