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Research article2025Peer reviewedOpen access

Decadal decline in forest floor soil organic carbon after clear-cutting in Nordic and Canadian forests

Johannesson, C. -F.; Ilvesniemi, H.; Kjonaas, O. J.; Larsen, K. S.; Lehtonen, A.; Norden, J.; Pare, D.; Silvennoinen, H.; Stendahl, J.; Stupak, I.; Vesterdal, L.; Dalsgaard, L.

Abstract

Nordic and Canadian forests store substantial amounts of carbon (C) and are largely managed in a silvicultural system with clear-cut harvest. Previous meta-analyses of harvesting effects on soil C have shown short- to longterm declines after harvest, but effects of clear-cutting on boreal and northern temperate forest soil C stocks remain unresolved. We harmonized National Forest Soil Inventory (NFSI) data from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Canada to examine soil C stocks up to 53 years following clear-cut harvest using a space-for-time approach. We analyzed forest floor and mineral soil C stocks in coniferous and deciduous/mixed forests. Coniferous forest floor C stocks decreased for -30 years after clear-cutting: when at its lowest stock level, Picea and Pinus forest floor C stocks had decreased by 23 % and 14 % relative to initial stock levels, respectively. Picea forest floor C stocks then remained close to its lowest levels until 53 years after clear-cutting, while for Pinusdominated forests they increased again and recovered to the pre-harvest level 48 years after clear-cutting. No C stock changes were detected in the 0-10 cm or 10-20 cm mineral soil layers, while a small increase in 55-65 cm mineral soil was detected in Podzol soils. Data was too limited to detect statistical signals of clear-cutting for deciduous/mixed forests. Our results shows that clear-cut harvest has substantial and long-lasting effects on northern temperate and boreal forest soil C storage, and that combining data from several NFSIs can help elucidate forest management effects on soil C storage.

Keywords

Soil organic carbon; Forest harvest; Clear-cutting; Boreal; Temperate; National forest inventory; National forest soil inventory

Published in

Forest Ecology and Management
2025, volume: 586, article number: 122668
Publisher: ELSEVIER

SLU Authors

UKÄ Subject classification

Soil Science
Forest Science

Publication identifier

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2025.122668

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/141628