A landscape level comparison of pre-European settlement and current soil carbon content of forested landscape in upper Michigan

Autor: Londo, A. J., Maclean, A. L., Mroz, G. D., Reed, D. D., Owens, K. W.
Předmět:
Zdroj: Forest Ecology & Management. 1/25/1999, Vol. 113 Issue 2/3, p179. 0p.
Abstrakt: A large forested landscape (18 640 ha) located in Michigan's centralUpper Peninsula was examined to estimate current and pre-European mineral soil carbon (C) content. Utilizing current forest stand information and pre-European settlement forest data, a landscape level soil C estimate was made for each time period and the change in soil C over the 150-year interval was quantified. Soil, forest type, and age class information were entered into a geographical information system (GIS); high medium, and low C levels were assigned to soils based on forest type and age class groupings. Using organic matter data from soil surveys of the area, a range of mineral soil C values was determined for each soil mapping unit and vegetation combination, and a percent C value was estimated based on previously assigned C levels. Estimates of average percent C were calculated for both current and pre-European landscapes to be 9.7% and 11.7%, respectively. Overall, there appears to be a decrease in soil C content since European settlement as a result of changes in forest cover and land use. Due to the strong relationship between forest type and soil C content, an increase ofurban/brush areas, and a shift from hemlock and conifer forest typesto hardwoods and mixed pine/hardwood forests since European settlement, there has been a reduction of the average landscape level soil C on a g/m2 basis. The net reduction in mineral soil C content on this landscape is estimated to be approximately 0.3 to 0.8 Tg C(in the upper 10--25 cm of mineral soil) over the 150 years since European settlement of the arca. (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Databáze: GreenFILE