Climate Change Research

Climate Change Research

Investigating the consequences of climate change on the organic carbon content of soils in the forest areas of Middle Zagros

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Hamid Reza Matinfar 1
Aliakbar Shamsipour 2
Hadis Sadeghi 3
1 Professor, Soil Science and Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural resources, University of Lorestan, Lorestan, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Physical Geography Department, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran,
3 Research Expert, Research Institute of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science (RIMAS), Tehran, Iran
10.30488/ccr.2024.475201.1243
Abstract
Continuous monitoring of soil organic carbon is one of the needs of monitoring environmental processes, including climate change and its effects on the ecosystem. The aim of the current research is to know the relationship between climate change and land use change and its effect on carbon sequestration of the Middle Zagros soils. After field observations, 180 areas with specific tree cover were randomly classified and soil samples were taken from each point up to a depth of 20 cm and transferred to the laboratory and the chemical and chemical properties of the soil were measured. The results show an increase in the areas without vegetation cover, or in other words, the change of forest and pasture land use to areas without cover. These results are consistent with the trend of land use changes in the region. So that the changes of greenness and vegetation in the province are weakened or aggravated by drought conditions. In general, land use changes from forests and pastures to lands without vegetation, temperature index changes resulting from satellite image calculations, which show stress in vegetation due to high temperature and dryness. On the other hand, vegetation indexes also express the reduction of the areas with vegetation, which leads to the reduction of plant biomass and the reduction of organic matter production in changed uses. In general, considering the trend of reducing carbon sequestration from 89 tons per hectare to 50 tons per hectare in a 30-year period, it can be expected that with the existing climate scenario and the current management of natural resources, the surface of vegetation and carbon sequestration values ​​in the future decrease.
Keywords
climate change
Middle Zagros
carbon sequestration
land use

Subjects

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