Can Carbon Sequestration in Tasmanian “Wet” Eucalypt Forests Be Used to Mitigate Climate Change? Forest Succession, the Buffering Effects of Soils, and Landscape Processes Must Be Taken into Account

Table 1

Mean carbon and nitrogen to 1 m depth for three Tasmanian forest types^1,2.

Forest type	Analyses to 0–30 cm depth	Analyses to 1 m depth				A1 horizon only
	C (Mg·ha^−1)	C (Mg·ha^−1)	Range (Mg·ha^−1)	N (Mg·ha^−1)	C/N ratio	C/N ratio
Rainforest (n = 3)	102	226	144–321	11.9	19	15
Wet eucalypt forest (n = 19)	71	147	37–273	9.9	15	22
Dry eucalypt forest^3 (n = 14)	53	92	45–168	4.1	22	24
All eucalypt forests (n = 33)	63	123

¹From the profile data of Grant et al. [21], Hill et al. [22], Laffan et al. [23], McIntosh [24], and P.D. McIntosh (unpublished data). ²Means are arithmetical and not area-weighted. ³Generally an overstorey of drought-tolerant species such as Eucalyptus amygdalina, E. globulus, E. viminalis, E. globulus, or E. tenuiramis with a heathy or grassy open understorey.