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The effects of management on soil carbon efflux in different ecosystems are still largely unknown yet crucial to both our understanding and management of global carbon flux. To compare the effects of common forest management practices on soil carbon cycling, we measured soil respiration rate (SRR) in a mixed-conifer and hardwood forest that had undergone various treatments from June to August 2003. The mixed-conifer forest, located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, had been treated with thinning and burning manipulations in 2001, and the hardwood forest, located in the southeastern Missouri Ozarks, had been treated with harvesting manipulations in 1996 and 1997. Litter depth, soil temperature, and soil moisture were also measured. We found that selective thinning produced a similar effect on both forests by elevating SRR, soil moisture, and soil temperature, although the magnitude of response was greater in the mixed-conifer forest. Selective harvest increased SRR by 43% (from 3.38 to 4.82 µmol·m–2·s–1) in the mixed-conifer forest and by 14% (from 4.25 to 4.84 µmol·m–2·s–1) in the hardwood forest. Burning at the conifer site and even-aged harvesting at the mixed-hardwood site did not produce significantly different SRR from controls. Mean SRR were 3.24, 3.42, and 4.52 µmol·m–2·s–1, respectively. At both sites, manipulations did significantly alter SRR by changing litter depth, soil structure, and forest microclimate. SRR response varied by vegetation patch type, the scale at which treatments altered these biotic factors. Our findings provide forest managers first-hand information on the response of soil carbon efflux to various management strategies in different forests.
Cataloging Information
- Abies concolor
- Abies magnifica
- Amphicarpaea bracteata
- Arctostaphylos nevadensis
- Arctostaphylos patula
- Calocedrus decurrens
- carbon
- carbon dioxide
- Carya
- Ceanothus cordulatus
- Chrysolepis sempiverens
- coniferous forests
- Cornus florida
- Corylus cornuta
- Desmodium nudiflorum
- diameter classes
- disturbance
- ecosystem dynamics
- experimental areas
- fire management
- forbs
- forest management
- hardwood forests
- herbaceous vegetation
- Lupinus
- Missouri
- Monardella
- national forests
- nutrient cycling
- Nyssa sylvatica
- old growth forests
- Ozarks
- Parthenocissus quinquefolia
- Pinus echinata
- Pinus jeffreyi
- Pinus lambertiana
- post fire recovery
- Prunus emarginata
- Quercus alba
- Quercus coccinea
- Ribes roezlii
- Ribes spp.
- Sassafras albidum
- Sierra Nevada
- soil moisture
- soil nutrients
- soil respiration rates
- soil temperature
- soils
- statistical analysis
- Symphoricarpos mollis
- thinning
- understory vegetation
- vines
- Vitis aestivalis
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