Abstract
Forest thinning is a silviculture treatment for sustainable forest management. It may promote growth of the remaining individuals by decreasing stand density, reducing competition, and increasing light and nutrient availability to increase carbon sequestration in the forest ecosystem. However, the action also increases carbon loss simultaneously by reducing carbon and other nutrient inputs as well as exacerbating soil CO2 efflux. To achieve a maximum forest carbon budget, the central composite design with two independent variables (thinning intensity and thinning residual removal rate) was explored in a natural pine-oak mixed stand in the Qinling Mountains, China. The net primary productivity of living trees was estimated and soil CO2 efflux was stimulated by the Yasso07 model. Based on two years observation, the preliminary results indicated the following. Evidently chemical compounds of the litter of the tree species affected soil CO2 efflux stimulation. The thinning residual removal rate had a larger effect than thinning intensity on the net ecosystem productivity. When the selective thinning intensity and residual removal rate was 12.59% and 66.62% concurrently, the net ecosystem productivity reached its maximum 53.93 t·ha−1·year−1. The lower thinning intensity and higher thinning residual removal rated benefited the net ecosystem productivity.
Highlights
Forest thinning is one of the most efficient tending measures and it is an effective management technique [1,2]
The results indicated that selective thinning intensity and thinning residual removal rate were positively related to net ecosystem productivity (NEP) when the range of the independent variable was x1 ∈ [−1.414, −0.5]
Chemical compound groups of litter on Euro-American tree species are provided in the Yasso07 manual which are more convenient for the model users in those countries [12]
Summary
Forest thinning is one of the most efficient tending measures and it is an effective management technique [1,2]. Selective thinning is one type of high thinning, which removes dominant and co-dominant trees [3]. It improves the vigor of residual trees as they benefit from the water, nutrient, and light resources no longer exploited by the felled trees [4]. Efforts to optimize carbon sequestration in forest ecosystems have mainly focused on enhancing stand biomass productivity and density by adapting thinning intensity and tree species composition [6]. Timbers and thinning residuals (branches and foliage) are usually removed from stands after thinning which reduces carbon and other nutrient inputs [7,8,9] and the soil microclimate [10] is changed
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