Riparian forests store tons of carbon

Mature riparian forest in the Cosumnes River Preserve, near Galt, California.
Photo by Robert G. Walsh, 2017

Riparian forests have long been recognized as hotspots of biodiversity, and they're known to help improve water quality by filtering runoff.  But riparian forests are less well-known for their ability to sequester carbon. In a new paper recently published in Global Change Biology, colleagues and I synthesized data on biomass and soil carbon stocks in riparian forests around the world.  We modeled the growth of carbon stocks with forest age and compared naturally regenerating forests to those that were actively planted as part of a reforestation effort.   ​

Key findings included:

1. Carbon stocks in mature riparian forests rival those of any other forest type around the world;
2. Actively planted forests acquired biomass carbon at twice the rate of naturally regenerating forests; and
3. On average, soil carbon stocks more than tripled following reforestation. 

​Restoration of degraded and damaged forest landscapes is a global strategy to simultaneously meet carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation goals,  such as through the Bonn Challenge. Our research demonstrates the substantial carbon storage benefit of riparian forest restoration, and that riparian forests can be an important part of this strategy.

Citation:
Dybala KE, Matzek V, Gardali T, Seavy NE. (2018) Carbon sequestration in riparian forests: a global synthesis and meta-analysis. Global Change Biology. 10.1111/gcb.14475. 

Data set:
Dybala KE, Matzek V, Gardali T, Seavy NE. (2018) Carbon sequestration in riparian forests: a global meta-analysis data set. Zenodo. 10.5281/zenodo.1252510.

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