Soil carbon stocks decrease following conversion of secondary forests to rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations.

ABSTRACT: Forest-to-rubber plantation conversion is an important land-use change in the tropical region, for which the impacts on soil carbon stocks have hardly been studied. In montane mainland southeast Asia, monoculture rubber plantations cover 1.5 million ha and the conversion from secondary forests to rubber plantations is predicted to cause a fourfold expansion by 2050. Our study, conducted in southern Yunnan province, China, aimed to quantify the changes in soil carbon stocks following the conversion from secondary forests to rubber plantations. We sampled 11 rubber plantations ranging in age from 5 to 46 years and seven secondary forest plots using a space-for-time substitution approach. We found that forest-to-rubber plantation conversion resulted in losses of soil carbon stocks by an avera

SUBMITTER: de Blecourt M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3716606 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature