Management to conserve biodiversity is likely to increase soil carbon storage in upland Atlantic oakwoods in the United Kingdom

Clapham, Melanie and Weatherall, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8413-1539 (2009) Management to conserve biodiversity is likely to increase soil carbon storage in upland Atlantic oakwoods in the United Kingdom. In: 2nd European Congress of Conservation Biology (ECCB), 1-5 September 2009, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.

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Abstract

The objective of this research was to determine whether fencing to exclude grazing from upland woodlands to facilitate the natural regeneration of trees is likely to increase soil carbon storage. Permanent sample plots were established along a transect through Young Wood, the highest Atlantic oakwood in England, immediately prior to fencing and exclusion of sheep in autumn 2008. Plots outside the wood contained either heather (Calluna vulgaris), bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), gorse (Ulex europaeus), wavy hair grass (Deschampsia flexuousa) or mixtures of these species. The wood is 99% sessile oak (Quercus petraea) with woodland ground flora such as heath bedstraw (Galium saxatile). Soil samples were analysed for carbon and nitrogen content. Results indicated that more carbon is stored in soil under the oaks than in either heather, bilberry, gorse, grass or mixtures of these species. In conclusion, this study showed that fencing and excluding grazing to conserve Atlantic oakwoods at their altitudinal limit in the United Kingdom is likely to have a carbon mitigation benefit as well as protecting and enhancing the biodiversity for which the management was initially intended.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Journal / Publication Title:	n/a
Related URL(s):	Organisation
Departments:	Academic Departments > Science, Natural Resources & Outdoor Studies (SNROS) > Forestry and Conservation
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	25 Jan 2018 15:49
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2024 08:46
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/3570

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