Biodiversity in forest carbon sequestration initiatives: not just a side benefit

Abstract

One way of mitigating global climate change is protecting and enhancing biosphere carbon stocks. The success of mitigation initiatives depends on the long-term net balance between carbon gains and losses. The biodiversity of ecological communities, including composition and variability of traits of plants and soil organisms, can alter this balance in several ways. This influence can be direct, through determining the magnitude, turnover rate, and longevity of carbon stocks in soil and vegetation. It can also be indirect through influencing the value and therefore the protection that societies give to ecosystems and their carbon stocks. Biodiversity of forested ecosystems has important consequences for long-term carbon storage, and thus warrants incorporation into the design, implementation, and regulatory framework of mitigation initiatives.

Published in

Current Opinion in Biotechnology
2009, volume: 1, number: 1, pages: 55-60

SLU Authors

• Wardle, David

  • Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Global goals (SDG)

SDG13 Climate action
SDG15 Life on land

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences and Nature Conservation

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2009.08.001

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/27531