Spatial variation of surface soil carbon in a boreal forest – the role of historical fires, contemporary vegetation, and hydro-topography
- Author:
- Haukenes V.L., Åsgård L., Asplund J., Nybakken L., Rolstad J., Storaunet K.O. & Ohlson M.
- Year:
- 2022
- Journal:
- Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research
- Pages:
- 37: 287–294
- Url:
- https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2022.2104364
Knowledge about the spatial variation of boreal forest soil carbon (C) stocks is limited, but crucial for
establishing management practices that prevent losses of soil C. Here, we quantified the surface soil C
stocks across small spatial scales, and aim to contribute to an improved understanding of the drivers
involved in boreal forest soil C accumulation. Our study is based on C analyses of 192 soil cores,
positioned and recorded systematically within a forest area of 11 ha. The study area is a southcentral
Norwegian boreal forest landscape, where the fire history for the past 650 years has been
reconstructed. Soil C stocks ranged from 1.3 to 96.7 kg m−2 and were related to fire frequency,
ecosystem productivity, vegetation attributes, and hydro-topography. Soil C stocks increased with
soil nitrogen concentration, soil water content, Sphagnum- and litter-dominated forest floor
vegetation, and proportion of silt in the mineral soil, and decreased with fire frequency in site 1,
feathermoss- and lichen-dominated forest floor vegetation and increasing slope. Our results
emphasize that boreal forest surface soil C stocks are highly variable in size across fine spatial
scales, shaped by an interplay between historical forest fires, ecosystem productivity, forest floor
vegetation, and hydro-topography.
Keywords: Organic surface carbon stocks; forest fire history; hydro-topography; spatial fine-scale variation.
- Id:
- 36419
- Submitter:
- zpalice
- Post_time:
- Monday, 15 April 2024 16:55