Soil carbon stock in fertilized forest stands with mineral soils

Abstract

Forest mineral soil is one of the terrestrial carbon pools, and changes in forest management practices can affect the carbon stock in forest soil. The purpose of the study is to estimate temporal fertilization impact on mineral soil organic carbon stock, depending on fertilizers applied, forest stand type, different dominant tree species of the stands. Coniferous and birch forest stands with mineral soil in the central and eastern part of Latvia were selected for the experiment. The fertilizers used were wood ash and nitrogen containing mineral fertilizer. No significant differences in organic carbon stock in O horizon were detected 2–5 years after fertilization. A tendency of smaller organic carbon stock in upper mineral soil layers (0–10 cm, 10–20 cm) was found in most part of objects. Significantly smaller organic carbon stock was found in upper mineral soil layers (0–10 cm and 10–20 cm) in birch stands with wet mineral soil treated with ammonium nitrate if compared to the control plots, possibly due to a different soil moisture regime of forest stands. The positive and significant correlations between soil organic carbon and nitrogen stocks were found in most part of the objects.