Abstract
Leaf litter decomposition is the key ecological process that determines the sustainability of managed forest ecosystems, however very few studies hitherto have investigated this process with respect to silvicultural management practices. The aims of the present study were to investigate the effects of forest management practices on leaf litter decomposition rates, nutrient dynamics (C, N, Mg, K, Ca, P) and the activity of ligninolytic enzymes. We approached these questions using a 473 day long litterbag experiment. We found that age-class beech and spruce forests (high forest management intensity) had significantly higher decomposition rates and nutrient release (most nutrients) than unmanaged deciduous forest reserves (P<0.05). The site with near-to-nature forest management (low forest management intensity) exhibited no significant differences in litter decomposition rate, C release, lignin decomposition, and C/N, lignin/N and ligninolytic enzyme patterns compared to the unmanaged deciduous forest reserves, but most nutrient dynamics examined in this study were significantly faster under such near-to-nature forest management practices. Analyzing the activities of ligninolytic enzymes provided evidence that different forest system management practices affect litter decomposition by changing microbial enzyme activities, at least over the investigated time frame of 473 days (laccase, P<0.0001; manganese peroxidase (MnP), P = 0.0260). Our results also indicate that lignin decomposition is the rate limiting step in leaf litter decomposition and that MnP is one of the key oxidative enzymes of litter degradation. We demonstrate here that forest system management practices can significantly affect important ecological processes and services such as decomposition and nutrient cycling.
Highlights
Almost one-third of the world’s total forest area is managed primarily for wood biomass production [1]
The four treatments in this study were: (i) Norway spruce age-class forest (SA, planted Norway spruce forest converted from European beech forest, even-age forest structure); (ii) European beech age-class forest (BA, semi-natural forest with natural regeneration, even-age forest structure); (iii) European beech selection cutting forest (BS, nearto-nature forest management with natural regeneration, unevenage forest structure); and (iv) unmanaged deciduous forest reserves dominated by European beech (BU, uneven-age forest structure) [4,24]
We found that leaf litter in Site characteristic forest (SA), Beech age-class forest (BA) and Beech selection cutting forest (BS) forests was of better quality than that in Beech unmanaged forest (BU) forest (Table 4); this was due to the mix of leaf litter from other tree species from natural regeneration at each site (Table 1)
Summary
Almost one-third of the world’s total forest area (ca. 1.2 billion ha) is managed primarily for wood biomass production [1]. 1.2 billion ha) is managed primarily for wood biomass production [1]. This figure is even higher in European forests (excluding those in the Russian Federation), where 57% of the total cover is managed for wood production [1]. Forest system management practices include the forest management itself, and conversion from one forest type to another [2,3]. Conversion of forests includes the maintenance of non-autochthonous forests in Central Europe, for example, where European beech dominated forests were converted to age-class Norway spruce or Scots pine forests [4]. Shifts in forest system management practices can change tree species composition and richness, stand density and age structure, either slowly over a number of decades, or perhaps suddenly because of clear-felling or burning of old growth stands [6,7]
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