Tamm Review: Influence of forest management activities on soil organic carbon stocks: A knowledge synthesis

Response to the letters by Kun et al. and Booth et al.

“…The same difference exists with soil surveys. The study of Mayer et al (2020) about effects of management on soils is based on site-specific plot studies. Grid-based studies do not show such a difference (Schulze et al, in preparation).…”

Drivers of carbon stocks in forest edges across Europe

“…For instance, high belowground C-stocks are found in the soil in cold biomes at higher latitudes and elevations and high C-stocks in the aboveground biomass are found in the tropics (Pan et al, 2011;Dieleman et al, 2013;Tashi et al, 2016), resulting in latitudinal and elevational trade-offs in distribution between aboveand belowground C-stocks. Tree species composition, soil characteristics and management are major drivers of C-stocks as well (Schulp et al, 2008;Vesterdal et al, 2013;De Vos et al, 2015;Mayer et al, 2020). Forest management does not only reduce the aboveground stock by removal of tree stems, but can also influence the input rate of organic matter and the release rate of C from the soil (Jandl et al, 2007;Schulp et al, 2008;Naudts et al, 2016;Mayer et al, 2020).…”

“…Tree species composition, soil characteristics and management are major drivers of C-stocks as well (Schulp et al, 2008;Vesterdal et al, 2013;De Vos et al, 2015;Mayer et al, 2020). Forest management does not only reduce the aboveground stock by removal of tree stems, but can also influence the input rate of organic matter and the release rate of C from the soil (Jandl et al, 2007;Schulp et al, 2008;Naudts et al, 2016;Mayer et al, 2020). Forest management and fragmentation also have an impact on forest microclimates (Matlack, 1993;Chen et al, 1999;Kovács et al, 2017), further affecting C-storage (Cahoon et al, 2012;Smith et al, 2019).…”

Evaluating the terrestrial carbon dioxide removal potential of improved forest management and accelerated forest conversion in Norway

“…These biases suggest that the simulated SOC sink difference between SP and BAU may be too high, although this is difficult to verify given the scarcity of litter turnover observations for the study region. According to Mayer et al (2020), there is little evidence to support the notion that a choice in tree species alone can affect the magnitude and stability of soil C stocks, since this largely depends on both biotic and abiotic site properties that vary largely in space. Nevertheless, given the relative importance of the LBC sink, a 100% increase/decrease to the simulated difference in soil C stock between the SP and BAU scenarios-or 99 and 214 Mt CO 2 at 2100 and 2150, respectively ( Figure 6)-would not affect the main finding that the terrestrial CO 2 sink is enhanced resulting in reduced atmospheric CO 2 concentrations by the end of the 21st century.…”