Carbon pools and flux of global forest ecosystems
Abstract
Forest systems cover more than 4.1 × 10 9 hectares of the Earth's land area. Globally, forest vegetation and soils contain about 1146 petagrams of carbon, with approximately 37 percent of this carbon in low-latitude forests, 14 percent in mid-latitudes, and 49 percent at high latitudes. Over two-thirds of the carbon in forest ecosystems is contained in soils and associated peat deposits. In 1990, deforestation in the low latitudes emitted 1.6 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year, whereas forest area expansion and growth in mid- and high-latitude forest sequestered 0.7 ± 0.2 petagrams of carbon per year, for a net flux to the atmosphere of 0.9 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year. Slowing deforestation, combined with an increase in forestation and other management measures to improve forest ecosystem productivity, could conserve or sequester significant quantities of carbon. Future forest carbon cycling trends attributable to losses and regrowth associated with global climate and land-use change are uncertain. Model projections and some results suggest that forests could be carbon sinks or sources in the future.
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The resolution of the question of whether boreal fire provides positive or negative feedback is of global significance.
“The resolution of this question is of global significance, given that boreal forests sequester 88 Pg C (25% of the global vegetation C pool) (Dixon et al., 1994) and the soils and sediments of arctic and boreal regions store over 1672 Pg C – a pool more than twice the size of the atmospheric C pool.”
From The human dimension of fire regimes on Earth (2011) · cites this paper as Dixon et al., 1994
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- Authors
- Dixon, R. K., Solomon, A. M., Brown, S., Houghton, R. A., Trexier, M. C., & Wisniewski, J.
- Affiliations
- Environmental Protection Agency (US)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Woodwell Climate Research Center (US)
- Trexler and Associates, Inc., Oak Grove, OR 97267
- Wisniewski and Associates, Inc., Falls Church, VA 22043
- ORCID
- Houghton, R. A.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1994-01-14
- Volume
- 263
- Issue
- 5144
- Pages
- 185-190
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2046788667
- Cited by
- 3,403
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 69 · 2025: 131 · 2024: 129 · 2023: 157 · 2022: 134 · 2021: 162 · 2020: 133 · 2019: 128 · 2018: 136 · 2017: 122 · 2016: 177 · 2015: 137 · 2014: 160 · 2013: 137 · 2012: 135
- FWCI
- 98.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Forest Management and Policy
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Forest ecology and management
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Keywords
- forest carbon, carbon pools, carbon flux, forest soils, peat deposits, deforestation, carbon sequestration, forestation, land use change, climate change, carbon sinks and sources, carbon cycle
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