Simulating the carbon storage of spruce forests based on the FORECAST model and remotely sensed data

Spruce (Picea asperata) is a special species of China, it is the main tree building species of high mountains in Sichuan, and plays an important role in the restoration of degraded ecosystems in sub-alpine areas in western China. In this study, impacts of different rotation lengths on carbon storage over 480 years were simulated using the ecosystem Model FORECAST for spruce, FORECAST_SPRUCE. Four rotation lengths were set up; include 40, 80, 120 and 160-year rotation. Results suggested that the sustainable management strategies for maintaining long-term site productivity in spruce forest would be 120-160-year rotation lengths under stem-only harvesting. The stem carbon accumulation and total tree carbon accumulation are the highest under 80-year rotation. And the soil carbon storage declines, no matter which rotation length we choose, but the degree of the regeneration becomes less as the rotation length gets longer. The spatial distribution of spruce forest production and carbon sequestration capacity show the higher site quality and net primary productivity in Southwest Sichuan.