Forest plantations represent an important carbon sink. In the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in Southern China,
fast-growing Eucalyptus and Acacia are favoured plantation species, but little is known regarding their
efficiency with respect to biomass production, partitioning and dynamics with stand age, or the contribution
made by the understory, litter and coarse woody debris (CWD) to the volume of biomass and fixed
carbon. Here, a set of 21 plantations of various ages were monitored for the pattern of biomass accumulation
and partitioning. A continuous biomass expansion factor (BEF) method was applied to a set of forest
inventory data (FID) over the periods 1989–2003 to estimate biomass accumulation, carbon storage
and its pattern of change over time. The accumulation of biomass increased with stand age, reaching,
respectively, 207.45 and 189.35 t ha1 in mature Eucalyptus and Acacia plantations. The contribution of
secondary biomass from the understory, litter layer and CWD accounted for, respectively, up to 10.2%
and 20.3% of the total biomass in the two types of plantation, highlighting the significance of secondary
biomass. At a similar growth stage, the ranking of the contribution to secondary biomass in the Eucalyptus
plantations was litter > herbaceous plants > shrubs > CWD, while in the Acacia plantations, it was
litter > CWD > shrubs > herbaceous plants. The Eucalyptus and Acacia plantations in the PRD accumulated
some 2.66–7.84 Mt of biomass and sequestered 1.33–3.92 Mt of carbon. For both species, the bulk of the
plantations (Eucalyptus 82.1%, Acacia 89.3%) were at the young to middle-aged stage. The Acacia plantations
generated a higher biomass density than the Eucalyptus plantations. Forest management intensifi-
cation and reforestation programmes, especially targeting Acacia or mixed Eucalyptus/Acacia forests, offer
good potential for future carbon sequestration.
Forest plantations represent an important carbon sink. In the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in Southern China,
fast-growing Eucalyptus and Acacia are favoured plantation species, but little is known regarding their
efficiency with respect to biomass production, partitioning and dynamics with stand age, or the contribution
made by the understory, litter and coarse woody debris (CWD) to the volume of biomass and fixed
carbon. Here, a set of 21 plantations of various ages were monitored for the pattern of biomass accumulation
and partitioning. A continuous biomass expansion factor (BEF) method was applied to a set of forest
inventory data (FID) over the periods 1989–2003 to estimate biomass accumulation, carbon storage
and its pattern of change over time. The accumulation of biomass increased with stand age, reaching,
respectively, 207.45 and 189.35 t ha1 in mature Eucalyptus and Acacia plantations. The contribution of
secondary biomass from the understory, litter layer and CWD accounted for, respectively, up to 10.2%
and 20.3% of the total biomass in the two types of plantation, highlighting the significance of secondary
biomass. At a similar growth stage, the ranking of the contribution to secondary biomass in the Eucalyptus
plantations was litter > herbaceous plants > shrubs > CWD, while in the Acacia plantations, it was
litter > CWD > shrubs > herbaceous plants. The Eucalyptus and Acacia plantations in the PRD accumulated
some 2.66–7.84 Mt of biomass and sequestered 1.33–3.92 Mt of carbon. For both species, the bulk of the
plantations (Eucalyptus 82.1%, Acacia 89.3%) were at the young to middle-aged stage. The Acacia plantations
generated a higher biomass density than the Eucalyptus plantations. Forest management intensifi-
cation and reforestation programmes, especially targeting Acacia or mixed Eucalyptus/Acacia forests, offer
good potential for future carbon sequestration.
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