Carbon Sequestration in Mediterranean Pine Forests

Quantifying the carbon balance in forests is one of the main challenges if carbon fixation is to be considered amongst the objectives of forest management (Montera et al., 2005). Carbon is accumulated in forests through an increment in biomass, dead organic matter and soil carbon, and is released through respiration and decomposition. In the Mediterranean area, forest fires are also an important way of releasing CO

2

to the atmosphere. Due to the complexity of making a global evaluation of all these processes, studies of sub-processes are necessary to better understand the processes involved.

In this chapter, estimates of carbon sequestration in Mediterranean pine forests from a number of studies and areas are presented along with associated information on how forest management influences this process. The estimates come from a number of sources including carbon stock estimates under different management plans using a chronosequence trial, under different thinning regimes or age structures using growth models, and from a model for estimating coarse woody debris.