Old-Growth Forests Can Accumulate Carbon in Soils
1st paragraph: ld-growth forests have traditionally been considered negligible as carbon sinks because carbon uptake has been thought to be balanced by respiration (1). We show that soils in the top 20-cm soil layer in preserved old-growth forests in southern China accumulated atmospheric carbon at an unexpectedly high rate from 1979 to 2003. This phenomenon indicates the need for future research on the complex responses and adaptation of belowground processes to global environmental change.
Credits: Science 314, 1417 (2006); DOI: 10.1126/science.1130168
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