Structure and composition of woody belowground biomass of geoxyle in grasslands and open woodlands in south-central Angola

master's thesis

• Title (english): Struktura i sastav drvenaste podzemne biomase geoksila u travnjacima i otvorenim šumama južne i središnje Angole
• Author: Marko Čorkalo
• Mentor: Manfred Finckh (mentor)
• Mentor: Sara Essert (komentor)
• Committee member: Sara Essert (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Sven Jelaska (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Kristina Pikelj (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Ivan Čanjevac (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Karmen Fio Firi (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Science; (Department of Biology); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2023-05-18, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: NATURAL SCIENCES; Biology

Abstract

Geoxyles, despite their ecological importance in relation to biodiversity, carbon storage, and
disturbance resistance, are often overlooked due to their life strategy of keeping most of their
biomass underground. This study fills a research gap by examining the structure and composition
of woody belowground biomass (BGB) distribution patterns in geoxyle grassland and open
woodland vegetation types across south-central Angola, using eight different sampling sites to
capture environmental variability. A direct destructive sampling approach was employed to
accurately measure BGB and corresponding carbon stocks and investigated the influence of
environmental factors on BGB allocation, with a particular emphasis on soil analysis.
The results revealed that disturbances and climate seasonality were crucial for geoxyle occurrence
and high levels of recorded BGB, while soil fertility and seasonality were identified as the primary
drivers of belowground geoxyle functional types and their diversity.
The findings of this study will contribute to a better understanding of BGB dynamics in geoxylerich ecosystems and provide valuable information for conservation and climate change mitigation
efforts. The importance of further research in this area is highlighted, as the destruction of these
habitats due to agriculture and land-use changes could result in significant losses of BGB and
contribute to global warming.

Abstract (croatian)

Unatoč ekološkoj važnosti u kontekstu bioraznolikosti, skladištenja ugljika i otpornosti na
poremećaje, geoksili su često zanemarivani zbog svoje životne strategije držanja glavnine biomase
ispod površine zemlje. Ova studija popunjava prazninu u istraživanju ispitivanjem strukture i
sastava distribucijskih uzoraka drvenaste podzemne biomase (BGB) u vegetacijskim tipovima
geoksilnih travnjaka i otvorenih šuma diljem južno-središnje Angole, koristeći osam različitih
mjesta uzorkovanja za obuhvaćanje varijabilnosti okoliša. Pristup izravnog destruktivnog
uzorkovanja korišten je za precizno mjerenje BGB-a i odgovarajućih zaliha ugljika, te je ispitan
utjecaj okolišnih čimbenika na distribuciju BGB-a, s posebnim naglaskom na analizu tla.
Rezultati su pokazali da su učestalost poremećaja i klimatska sezonalnost bili ključni za pojavnost
geoksila i visoke razine zabilježenog BGB-a, dok su plodnost tla i sezonalnost identificirani kao
primarni pokretači podzemnih geoksilnih funkcionalnih tipova i njihove raznolikosti.
Nalazi ove studije pridonijet će boljem razumijevanju dinamike BGB-a u ekosustavima bogatim
geoksilima i pružiti relevantne informacije u svrhu konzervacije i ublažavanja klimatskih
promjena. Naglašena je važnost daljnjih istraživanja u ovom području jer bi uništavanje navedenih
staništa zbog intenziviranja poljoprivrede i promjene načina korištenja zemljišta moglo rezultirati
značajnim gubicima BGB-a i pridonijeti globalnom zatopljenju.

• Keywords: belowground bud bank; carbon storage; underground trees
• Keywords (croatian): podzemna skladišta pupova; podzemne “šume”; zalihe ugljika
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:217:971328
• Study programme: Title: Enviromental Sciences; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra struke znanosti o okolišu (magistar/magistra struke znanosti o okolišu)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Embargoed access; Embargo expiration date: 2025-05-18
• Created on: 2023-05-25 12:14:33