Variations of organic carbon sinks in the forests floor of mixed oriental beech in relation to plant diversity and physiographic factors

The certainty of forest resources evaluation regarding to emission of atmospheric carbon dioxide could be increased by estimating the organic carbon pool of forest floor. This research aims at exploring the relationship between plant diversity in the different stories pertaining to forest physical characteristics, and variation of carbon sinks of forest floor. The current research was done in control compartment located in the third district of Glandroud forests. The sample plots with 400 m² area were sytemetically established in the study area which were separated by a distance of 100 m from each other. Four 1 m² and 50 × 50 cm² plots were marked at the center and corners of the sampling plot to measure and collect the herbal plants and litter, respectively. 80 g of each herbal and litter sample was separated after weighing in the field and the all samples were oven-dried at 65^ºC for 48 hours. Carbon content of each sample was measured and calculated by placing each sample in the heat oven. The results showed that the tree diversity indices are independent of physiographic changes in the studied forest. However, abundance and dominance of herbal coverage were significantly different at altitude and aspect classification, respectively. Among all the studied carbon sinks, carbon sequestration of litter was significantly different at slope classification. The final result indicated that there was no significant correlation between plant biodiversity and amount of carbon sink in grass coverage. In other hand, the significant correlation was found between carbon stock of litter and indices of Shannon, richness, and importance value of tree storey.