Chinanews, Guangzhou, Dec. 6 – A Chinese scientist has made a major breakthrough in the world science of ecological study. Zhou Guoyi, a researcher of the South China Botanical Garden under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has recently found that soil of primeval forest can absorb large amount of carbon. His finding helps explain why over half of the carbon dioxide has “disappeared” on earth. His finding was recently published in the latest Science magazine. This is the second time that Chinese scientists have published their findings in Science on the study of carbon, the Guangzhou Daily reported.
Nature, another world-renowned science magazine, regards the new finding as a “surprise” to the international science circle, saying that it will reposition traditional theories on ecological study. The new finding was conducted in Dinghu Mountain in Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province.
Traditional theories usually hold that compared with immature forests, matures forests’ function in absorbing carbon was relatively weak, or they can not even absorb any carbon at all. In other words, traditional theories think that primeval forests can not absorb carbon dioxide. However, for a long time, scientists cannot explain why a large amount of carbon dioxide released by the earth has finally disappeared.
For the past 25 years, Zhou Guoyi and his colleagues have carried out researches on the mature forests located in the Dinghu Mountain National Nature Reserve. Their research shows that the amount of organic carbon stored in the soil layer 0-20 centimeters under ground increases at a rate of 0.61 ton per hectare every year. In other words, mature forests are capable of absorbing large amounts of organic carbon. Based on these findings, Zhou estimates that half or two-thirds of the carbon is absorbed by the soil in mature forests.
Their findings can help scientists to figure out how much carbon dioxide released in China is absorbed by primeval forests, thus alleviating China's pressure in limiting its carbon dioxide emission.
Zhou estimates that in China, 6% of the country's territory is covered by mature forests. As China will start to carry out its duty in the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, his findings can help China to figure out the exact number of its carbon dioxide emission, which will be beneficial to China’s negotiation talks in the Kyoto Protocol.
