Simulating Carbon Stocks and Fluxes of an African Tropical Montane Forest with an Individual-Based Forest Model

Tropical forests are carbon-dense and highly productive ecosystems. Consequently, they play an important role in the global carbon cycle. In the present study we used an individual-based forest model (FORMIND) to analyze the carbon balances of a tropical forest. The main processes of this model are...

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Published inPloS one Vol. 10; no. 4; p. e0123300
Main Authors Fischer, Rico, Ensslin, Andreas, Rutten, Gemma, Fischer, Markus, Schellenberger Costa, David, Kleyer, Michael, Hemp, Andreas, Paulick, Sebastian, Huth, Andreas
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Public Library of Science 27.04.2015
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects
Africa
Biomass
Carbon
Carbon - analysis
Carbon Cycle
Climate change
Computer Simulation
Fluxes
Forest biomass
Forest ecosystems
Forests
Leaf area
Leaf area index
Montane environments
Mountain forests
Primary production
Rainforest
Rainforests
Regeneration
Size distribution
Tree growth
Trees
Tropical forests
Africa
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Summary:Tropical forests are carbon-dense and highly productive ecosystems. Consequently, they play an important role in the global carbon cycle. In the present study we used an individual-based forest model (FORMIND) to analyze the carbon balances of a tropical forest. The main processes of this model are tree growth, mortality, regeneration, and competition. Model parameters were calibrated using forest inventory data from a tropical forest at Mt. Kilimanjaro. The simulation results showed that the model successfully reproduces important characteristics of tropical forests (aboveground biomass, stem size distribution and leaf area index). The estimated aboveground biomass (385 t/ha) is comparable to biomass values in the Amazon and other tropical forests in Africa. The simulated forest reveals a gross primary production of 24 tcha(-1) yr(-1). Modeling above- and belowground carbon stocks, we analyzed the carbon balance of the investigated tropical forest. The simulated carbon balance of this old-growth forest is zero on average. This study provides an example of how forest models can be used in combination with forest inventory data to investigate forest structure and local carbon balances.
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Conceived and designed the experiments: RF A. Huth. Performed the experiments: RF. Analyzed the data: RF SP A. Huth. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: RF AE GR DSC A. Hemp. Wrote the paper: RF AE GR MF DSC MK A. Hemp SP A. Huth.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0123300