Mohsen Amani; Ali Asghar Naghipour; Ataollah Ebrahimi; Zahra Heidari; Mohammadreza Ashrafzadeh
Abstract
Carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems is an important part of global carbon storage and plays a vital role in mitigating climate change. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of different types of land uses/land covers (dense rangelands, semi-dense rangelands, low density rangelands, ...
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Carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems is an important part of global carbon storage and plays a vital role in mitigating climate change. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of different types of land uses/land covers (dense rangelands, semi-dense rangelands, low density rangelands, barren lands and agricultural lands) on the amount of soil carbon and plant biomass sequestration as an important ecosystem service in Sefiddasht watershed in in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari province. Sampling of soil and vegetation was done randomly and systematically. For this purpose, 60 plots of 4 square meters were used for collecting soil, plant material and litter. Plant biomass was sampled by direct measurement method. Soil samples were also collected from the depth of 0-30 cm and 20 samples in each area. The results showed that there is a significant difference between the investigated regions in terms of total carbon storage. The total carbon storage from the highest to the lowest in order includes dense rangelands (46.42 tons/ha), semi-dense rangelands (38.49 tons/ha), agricultural lands (31.62 tons/ha), low-density rangelands (26.12 tons) per hectare) and barren lands (17.21 tons per hectare). The economic value of the total carbon storage per hectare of the examined uses, including dense rangelands, semi-dense rangelands, agricultural lands, low-dense rangelands, and barren lands, was determined to be $5446, $4516, $3710, $3065, and $2019, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that the implementation of appropriate policies to prevent or minimize the conversion of land uses with a higher carbon storage capacity to land uses with a lower carbon storage capacity is of particular importance.
zahra abdolalizadeh; Ataollah Ebrahimi
Abstract
Sabzkouh protected area, with the variety of natural ecosystems and landscapes, is very rich from the point of diversity in climate, topography, habitats and wildlife that is located in central Zagros. Evidences show that its ecosystems such as other Iranian semiarid natural ecosystems, undergone ...
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Sabzkouh protected area, with the variety of natural ecosystems and landscapes, is very rich from the point of diversity in climate, topography, habitats and wildlife that is located in central Zagros. Evidences show that its ecosystems such as other Iranian semiarid natural ecosystems, undergone changes in their vegetation structure over the past years. Obtaining multi-spectral and multi-temporal data via Satellite Remote Sensing (RS) with Geographical Information System (GIS) would be able to identify type, quantity and location of land use/land cover changes. The aim of present study is to detect land cover changes in recent three decades by RS in Sabzkouh region. Therefore, the images of Landsat MSS (1975) and Landsat ETM+ (2003), Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Transformed Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (TSAVI1) were used as ancillary data to obtain land cover maps. These maps were produced by applying supervised maximum likelihood classifier and included five classes namely: agriculture, herbaceous rangeland, shrub and brush rangeland, barren land and forest. To detect changes, Post Classification Comparison approach was used. The net change calculations indicated that were added to shrub and brush rangelands and forest. On the other hand, herbaceous rangeland and barren land have been converted to the other classes.