Effect of Slope and Vegetation on Carbon Sequestration in a Semi-dry Rangeland of Western Iran, Case Study: Khanghah Sorkh, Urmia

آب و خاک

Article 4, Volume 27, Issue 4, September 2013, Pages 703-711   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/jsw.v0i0.28088

Authors

R. Erfanzadeh; J. Motamedi

Abstract

In this study, Khanghag Sorkh watershed was selected to study on the effect of vegetation and slope changes on soil carbon sequestration. Therefore, three vegetation communities were recognized and soil sampling was done within 0-30 cm depth in two slopes (10-30% and 30-50%). Soil samples were analyzed to measure carbon sequestration rate and some of other physico-chemical characteristics. The results showed that the soil of Pteropyrum aucheri-Astragalus microcephulus, Astragalus microcephulus-Acanthophyllum microcephalum and Pteropyrum aucheri-Prangus uloptera communities has sequestrated 96.10, 73.84 and 52.85 ton carbon per hectare, respectively. The slope of 10-30% and 30-50% has sequestrated 96.11 and 126.68 ton carbon per hectare, respectively. In general, the slope of 10-30% had higher carbon sequestration compared with the slope of 30-50% with the exception of Pteropyrum aucheri-Astragalus microcephulus community. Our estimations revealed That the soil of Pteropyrum aucheri-Astragalus microcephulus, Astragalus microcephulus-Acanthophyllum microcephalum and Pteropyrum aucheri-Prangus uloptera had ca. 19220$ , 14768 and 10570$ economical values per hectare in respect to carbon fixation, , respectively. An investigation on other edaphic factors showed that most of soil factors were also significantly different between vegetation communities and slope classes (P

Keywords

Khanghah Sorkh Urmia; Rangelands; Slope gradient; Soil carbon sequestration; vegetation