Carbon storage by Mediterranean vegetation developing inside a protected area

Carbon (C) storage and its dynamics in vegetation and soil are important for predicting how terrestrial ecosystem carbon pools may change as climate and land use change in the next future. In this context, the organic fraction of the C stored in the above-ground biomass (CA), below-ground biomass (CB), deadwood mass (CD), litter (CL) and soil (CS) was estimated for different plant land-cover categories: forests (i.e. low and high Mediterranean maquis, Quercus ilex evergreen forest, Quercus suber evergreen forest, Pinus pinea plantations, broadleaf mixed forest, Eucalyptus globulus plantations), sand dune vegetation, grasslands and croplands developing inside the Castelporziano Presidential Estate (Italy). The total C storage inside the Presidential Estate resulted in 2434 Mg C ha−1 (sum of all the carbon pools) with Quercus ilex evergreen forest having the highest contribution (by 22%) and sand dune vegetation the lowest (0.01%). The five C pools differently contributed to the total carbon storage in the Estate: CS gave the highest contribution (48%), followed by CA (31%) and CB (10%). CD and CL contributed to a lesser extent (both 6%) to total carbon storage.