Inventory of carbon sequestration in Artemisia lands of Hamadan

Abstract. Climate change is one of the most important challenges in sustainable development which has negative effect on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem. The lead factor of this phenomenon is Co2 accumulation in atmosphere. One of the suitable ways of facing the mentioned issue is carbon sequestration in plant biomass and soil as a simple as well as inexpensive refined way in rangelands. With respect to the fact that Artemisia lands occupy an extensive part of the rangelands in Iran, in order to investigate the role of Artemisia lands in carbon sequestration, an area of Artemisia sieberi vegetation type in Hamadan province was selected and the content of aboveground and underground biomass carbon and soil organic carbon was determined. The result showed that the total carbon sequestration per hectare was 287.49 kg/ha and 90 % of total carbon sequestration was soil organic carbon. The results of biomass carbon distribution showed that the carbon content in aerial biomass was more than underground biomass. Among the different parts of aerial biomass, the greatest storage was related to foliage carbon. Within proper range management in rangeland ecosystems, a major step forward in rising plant biomass could be taken. On the other hand, any attempt to restore lost natural resources could increase carbon sequestration