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Soil Drainage Class Influences on Soil Carbon in a New England Forested Watershed
Author(s) -
Raymond Jay E.,
Fernandez Ivan J.,
Ohno Tsutomu,
Simon Kevin
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2012.0129
Subject(s) - soil water , environmental science , soil carbon , watershed , water content , drainage , pedogenesis , deciduous , soil science , hydrology (agriculture) , soil respiration , agronomy , ecology , geology , biology , geotechnical engineering , machine learning , computer science
Imperfectly drained soils under forests can occupy extensive areas of the landscape and understanding how they might differ from upland forest soils can be critical for understanding soil organic carbon (SOC) across forested landscapes. Research on forest SOC across drainage gradients has been limited. This research was a case study at the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM), a long‐term ecological research site, that focused on SOC pools and fluxes across three soil drainage classes (moderately well drained‐MWD, somewhat poorly drained‐SWPD, poorly drained‐PD) and two forest types (coniferous‐CF, broadleaved deciduous‐BLD). Soil respiration (R S ), soil temperature, soil moisture content, and extractable soluble C were measured from May through November to assess R s as an indicator of biological activity. The MWD mineral soil had significantly higher C concentrations(0.71 g kg −1 ) compared to SWPD (0.30 g kg −1 ) and PD (0.34 g kg −1 ). The MWD soils in CF had significantly greater C content (433.3 Mg C ha −1 ) compared to SWPD (113.95 Mg C ha −1 ) and PD (103.3 Mg C ha −1 ). Soil C concentration and content was not significantly different between SWPD and PD soils. Mean mineral soil C fraction concentrations (active, stable, passive) expressed as a percent of the total soil mass were significantly different among soil drainage classes. Results from this case study suggest that pedogenesis, above and belowground plant productivity, and moisture availability across the growing season play important roles in determining SOC dynamics in these forests.