Redistribution of soil nitrogen, carbon and organic matter by mechanical disturbance during whole-tree harvesting in northern hardwoods

To investigate whether mechanical mixing during harvesting could account for losses observed from forest floor, we measured surface disturbance on a 22 ha watershed that was whole-tree harvested. Surface soil on each 10 cm interval along 81, randomly placed transects was classified immediately after...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forest ecology and management 1992-05, Vol.49 (1), p.87-99
Main Authors: Ryan, Douglas F., Huntington, Thomas G., Wayne Martin, C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
AZOTE
Biological and medical sciences
CARBON
CARBONE
CARBONO
Chemical, physicochemical, biochemical and biological properties
EXPLOITATION PAR ARBRE ENTIER
Forestry
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
MATERIA ORGANICA
MATIERE ORGANIQUE
NITROGEN
NITROGENO
ORGANIC MATTER
Physics, chemistry, biochemistry and biology of agricultural and forest soils
PROPIEDADES FISICO-QUIMICAS SUELO
PROPRIETE PHYSICOCHIMIQUE DU SOL
SACA DE ARBOLES COMPLETOS
Science & Technology
SOIL CHEMICOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Soil science
WHOLE TREE LOGGING
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Summary:To investigate whether mechanical mixing during harvesting could account for losses observed from forest floor, we measured surface disturbance on a 22 ha watershed that was whole-tree harvested. Surface soil on each 10 cm interval along 81, randomly placed transects was classified immediately after harvesting as mineral or organic, and as undisturbed, depressed, rutted, mounded, scarified, or scalped (forest floor scraped away). We quantitatively sampled these surface categories to collect soil in which preharvest forest floor might reside after harvest. Mechanically mixed mineral and organic soil horizons were readily identified. Buried forest floor under mixed mineral soil occurred in 57% of mounds with mineral surface soil. Harvesting disturbed 65% of the watershed surface and removed forest floor from 25% of the area. Mechanically mixed soil under ruts with organic or mineral surface soil, and mounds with mineral surface soil contained organic carbon and nitrogen pools significantly greater than undisturbed forest floor. Mechanical mixing into underlying mineral soil could account for the loss of forest floor observed between the preharvest condition and the second growing season after whole-tree harvesting.
ISSN:0378-1127
1872-7042
DOI:10.1016/0378-1127(92)90162-3