Effect of plant communities of the Darabkola research and educational forest on Carbon stored in soil and above ground biomass

Current study reviews effect of the Darabkola forest plant communities on Carbon sequestration in soil and Above Ground Biomass (AGB). It compared five natural communities, including Parrotio persicae-Carpinetum betuli, Zelkovo carpinifoliae-Quercetum castaneifoliae, Solano kieseritzkii-Fagetum orientalis, Aceri velutini-Parrotietum persicae, Euphorbio amygdaloidea-Fagetum orientale, and one Maple plantation stand. Sampling was done using systematic randomized with 400×400 meters dimensions. After removal of marginal points, soil samples were collected from center of 163 plots with 20×20 meters dimension. Results of ANOVA, mean comparison, and PCA showed that the highest soil Potassium belongs to the plantation stand (336.96±18.97), while the least one, belongs to Solano kieseritzkii-Fagetum orientalis (160.25±10.75). On the other hand, soil Phosphorus was the highest in the Aceri velutini-Parrotietum persicae (4.65±0.55), and it was the lowest in Solano kieseritzkii-Fagetum orientalis (1.95±0.14). Aceri velutinid-Parrotietum persicae (34.80±2.08) and Solano kieseritzkii-Fagetum orientalis (22.73±1.22) had the highest and the lowest soil moisture content, respectively. However, the study proved that different communities did not affect soil sand percent and carbon sequestration. Zelkovo carpinifoliae-Quercetum castaneifoliae (242.82±23.22) had the highest, and plantation stand (54.78±5.55) had the lowest carbon sequestration in AGB.