Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
4
Blue Carbon in Floral Community
…
Conserve the blue carbon lane
And increase the carbon gain
…
The Authors
Forests play a crucial role in regulating the
climate of the planet Earth by acting as important
storehouses of carbon. Forest plants and soils
drive the global carbon cycle by sequestering
(storing) carbon dioxide through photosynthesis
and releasing it through respiration. When the
uptake of carbon dioxide (photosynthesis)
exceeds losses via respiration, harvest and man-
agement, forests store carbon (C sinks). In an
undisturbed forest,
distance from the ocean, distance from rivers,
altitude and geographic position.
Moist deciduous forests
occur in areas with an
annual
2,000 mm. Forest
structure varies depending on the amount and
distribution of rain, the type of soil and the length
of the dry season. Some dominant tree species
may lose their leaves towards the end of the dry
season. This forest type is generally less diverse
than rain forest.
Dry zone forests
rainfall of 1,000
-
74 % of the carbon dioxide
is stored in live stems and branches, 16 % is
stored in roots, and 10 % is stored in soils. The
global sink in forest vegetation and soils
(Table
4.1
) is estimated to be 1,200 Gt of carbon
(1 Gt = 10
9
*
are found in tropical areas
receiving between 500 and 1,000 mm of rainfall
per year. They are relatively open and include
thornland, shrubland, savannah and other short
and sparse woody vegetation. Dry zone forests
tend to be fragile and are easily degraded. More
than half are in Africa. Dry forest types include
oak, mesquite, pi
tonnes). This increases at a rate of
1
3 Gt annually.
Several researchers have estimated the carbon
stored in forest vegetation in the pre-industrial
and present times (Table
4.2
).
The planet Earth sustains some 3.9 billion
hectares or 39,000,000 km
2
of remaining forests
(Brown et al.
2006
) which is approximately 30 %
of the world
-
ñ
on-juniper, maquis and acacia.
Tropical upland forests
are forests above
800 m and include cloud forests (montane rain
forests), which are shorter,
oristically simpler
and more heavily laden with mosses and lichens
than lowland rain forests. Tropical upland spe-
cies are similar to temperate forest species. The
upland zone covers the Himalayas, parts of
Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, the highlands
of Mexico, the Andes and the highlands of
Ethiopia and mountains around Lake Victoria.
The total mangrove forest area accounts for
0.7 % of the total tropical forest in the world.
Most mangroves (42 %) are found in Asia, fol-
lowed by Africa (20 %), North and Central
America (15 %), Oceania (12 %) and South
America (15 %).
According to a study conducted by a team of
US Forest Service and university scientists,
fl
s land surface.
The tropical forest zone encompasses 1.76
billion hectares or 17,600,000 km
2
and is divided
into six eco
'
oristic zones: the tropical rain for-
ests, the moist deciduous forests, the dry zone,
the very dry zone, the desert zone, the hill forest
and mountain forest.
Tropical rain forests
fl
are found in areas with
more than 2,500 mm of annual rainfall. They are
evergreen, luxuriant and rich in animal and plant
species. More than half the world
s 718.3 million
hectares of rain forests are located in two coun-
tries: Brazil (41 %) and Indonesia (13 %). Rain
forest composition and structure vary with
'
