Effects of forest management on soil C and N storage: meta analysis

Abstract

The effects of forest management on soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are important to understand not only because these are often master variables determining soil fertility but also because of the role of soils as a source or sink for C on a global scale. This paper reviews the literature on forest management effects on soil C and N and reports the results of a meta analysis of these data. The meta analysis showed that forest harvesting, on average, had little or no effect on soil C and N. Significant effects of harvest type and species were noted, with sawlog harvesting causing increases (+18%) in soil C and N and whole-tree harvesting causing decreases (−6%). The positive effect of sawlog harvesting appeared to be restricted to coniferous species. Fire resulted in no significant overall effects of fire on either C or N (when categories were combined); but there was a significant effect of time since fire, with an increase in both soil C and N after 10 years (compared to controls). Significant differences among fire treatments were found, with the counterintuitive result of lower soil C following prescribed fire and higher soil C following wildfire. The latter is attributed to the sequestration of charcoal and recalcitrant, hydrophobic organic matter and to the effects of naturally invading, post-fire, N-fixing vegetation. Both fertilization and N-fixing vegetation caused marked overall increases in soil C and N.