Effects of fertilisation and understory removal on aboveground and belowground carbon stocks in wet and dry moorlands in south-western France

Forests provide essential ecosystem services such as wood production and soil carbon storage, which can be influenced by forest management. Fertilisation and understory removal are common practices set up in managed forests to reduce tree mortality and relieve trees from their main limitations, but...

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Published in:European journal of forest research Vol. 142; no. 4; pp. 723 - 737
Main Authors: Bon, Lucie, Augusto, Laurent, Gaudry, Jonathan, Bakker, Mark R., Lambrot, Catherine, Milin, Sylvie, Trichet, Pierre, Fanin, Nicolas
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.08.2023
Springer Nature B.V
Springer Verlag
Subjects:
aboveground biomass
Biomass
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Carbon
Carbon sequestration
Ecosystem services
Ecosystems
Environmental Sciences
Enzymatic activity
Enzymes
Fertilization
Forest management
Forest practices
Forestry
Forests
France
heathlands
Life Sciences
Moorland
Organic carbon
Original Paper
phosphorus
Phosphorus removal
Pine trees
Pinus pinaster
Plant Ecology
Plant Sciences
soil carbon
soil enzymes
Soils
Topsoil
tree mortality
trees
Understory
wood
France
Soil
Carbon stocks
Forest
Extracellular enzyme activity
Fertilisation
Understory removal
ISSN:1612-4669, 1612-4677
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Forests provide essential ecosystem services such as wood production and soil carbon storage, which can be influenced by forest management. Fertilisation and understory removal are common practices set up in managed forests to reduce tree mortality and relieve trees from their main limitations, but their effects on belowground functioning and soil carbon storage are still unclear. In this study, we investigated the effects of phosphorus fertilisation, understory removal and their interaction on the carbon stored in the ecosystem and soil enzyme activities in two contrasting moorlands in south-western France (dry and wet moorlands) planted with maritime pines ( Pinus pinaster Ait.). In the wet moorland, we found that fertilisation and understory removal had a positive effect on tree biomass, but they did not affect soil carbon stocks nor carbon-related enzyme activities. In the dry moorland, understory removal had a significant positive effect on tree biomass and a strong negative effect on topsoil organic carbon stocks and carbon-related enzyme activities. Overall, understory removal did not affect total carbon stocks at the ecosystem scale due to compensatory effects between carbon pools, i.e. the increase in carbon stored in the aboveground biomass was cancelled by a decrease in carbon stored in the soil. These results highlight the importance of adapting forest practices depending on the environmental context and carbon sequestration objectives.
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ISSN:1612-4669
1612-4677
DOI:10.1007/s10342-023-01551-2