Simulated soil organic matter dynamics in forests of the Leningrad administrative area, northwestern Russia

Abstract The assessment of carbon balance in forest soils of the Leningrad administrative area (south boreal sub-zone of east European plain) has been carried out using: (1) previous data on carbon pools of forest soils without considering mires area as initial data (organic layer plus 50 cm soil); (2) inventory data on forest stands that has been converted into biomass and data on litter input; (3) meteorological data concerning the mean monthly air temperature and precipitation. The most recent model version of soil organic matter (SOMM) dynamics was applied for a 100-year simulation of carbon dynamics in the 3.22×106 ha of forest soils of the Leningrad area considering a constant forest-age structure and climate. The results demonstrate unique carbon dynamics in various soils, and an 8% increase of the total carbon pool of the area’s forest soils during the 100-year simulation (from 266 to 286 million tons of carbon). The total carbon input to the soil, in the form of litter carbon, was 8.3 million tons annually, and the carbon emission, in the form of carbon dioxide released from the soils, was 8.1 million tons annually at the end of simulation.

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