J Arid Land (2020) 12(5): 766–774 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-020-0027-4 Science Press Springer-Verlag ∗ Corresponding author: Ali MAHDAVI (E-mail: mahdaviali56@gmail.com) Received 2018-12-18; revised 2020-09-03; accepted 2020-09-13 © Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Science Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020 http://jal.xjegi.com; www.springer.com/40333 Biomass and carbon stocks in three types of Persian oak (Quercus brantii var. persica) of Zagros forests in a semi-arid area, Iran Ali MAHDAVI 1* , Soghra SAIDI 1 , Yaghob IRANMANESH 2 , Mostafa NADERI 1 1 Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ilam University, Ilam 69315516, Iran; 2 Research Division of Natural Resources, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Shahrekord 8818434141, Iran Abstract: Persian oak (Quercus brantii var. persica) is a dominant tree species of Zagros forests in a semi-arid area, western Iran. However, the capacity of biomass and carbon stocks of these forests is not well studied. We selected three types of oak, i.e., seed-originated oak, coppice oak and mixed (seed-originated and coppice) oak of Zagros forests in Dalab valley, Ilam Province, Iran to survey the capacity of biomass and carbon stocks in 2018. Thirty plots with an area of 1000 m 2 were systematically and randomly assigned to each type of oak. Quantitative characteristics of trees, such as diameter at breast height (DBH), height, crown diameter and the number of sprouts in each plot were measured. Then, aboveground biomass (AGB), belowground biomass (BGB), aboveground carbon stock (AGCS) and belowground carbon stock (BGCS) of each tree in plots were calculated using allometric equations. The litterfall biomass (LFB) and litterfall carbon stock (LFCS) were measured in a quadrat with 1 m×1 m in each plot. One-way analysis of variance and Duncan's test were performed to detect the differences in biomass and carbon stocks among three types of oak. Results showed that AGB, BGB and BGCS were significantly different among three types of oak. The highest values of AGB, AGCS, BGB and BGCS in seed-originated oak were 76,043.25, 14,725.55, 36,737.79 and 7362.77 kg/hm 2 , respectively. Also, the highest values of LFB and LFCS in seed-originated oak were 3298.33 and 1520.48 kg/hm 2 , respectively, which were significantly higher than those of the other two types of oak. The results imply the significant role of seed-originated oak for the regeneration of Zagros forests. Further conservation strategy of seed-originated oak is an important step in the sustainable management of Zagros forests in Iran. Keywords: biomass; carbon stock; seed-originated forest; coppice forest; Zagros forest Citation: Ali MAHDAVI, Soghra SAIDI, Yaghob IRANMANESH, Mostafa NADERI. 2020. Biomass and carbon stocks in three types of Persian oak (Quercus brantii var. persica) of Zagros forests in a semi-arid area, Iran. Journal of Arid Land, 12(5): 766–774. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-020-0027-4 1 Introduction Increasing greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) has been identified as the source of global warming or abrupt climate change (Allen et al., 2006; Lorenz and Lal, 2010). Human activities for reducing atmospheric CO 2 were started when the impacts of global warming were specified (Sohrabi et al., 2016). The increase rate of atmospheric CO 2 concentration can be reduced through the process of carbon sequestration (Lorenz and Lal, 2010). Carbon stocks in tree biomass and forest soils are economically considered as the most possible procedures to reduce atmospheric carbon (Brown, 1996). Trees play an important role in reducing atmospheric CO 2 by absorbing and accumulating in their leaves, branches, stems and roots as biomass (McPherson and