B43I-0663
The response of ecosystem carbon pools to management approaches that increase the growth of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.)
Thursday, 17 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Jason G Vogel1, Allan R Bacon2, Rosvel G Bracho2, Sabine Grunwald3, Carlos A Gonzalez-Benecke4, Eric J Jokela5, Daniel Markewitz6, Josh Cucinella5, Katherine Akers6, C. Wade Ross7, Gary F Peter5, Thomas D. Fox8, Timothy Martin9 and Michael Kane6, (1)Texas A & M University College Station, College Station, TX, United States, (2)University of Florida, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, Ft Walton Beach, FL, United States, (3)University of Florida, Soil and Water Science, Gainesville, FL, United States, (4)Oregon State University, Forest Engineering, Resources and Management, Corvallis, OR, United States, (5)University of Florida, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, Gainesville, FL, United States, (6)University of Georgia, Warnell School of Forest Resources, Athens, GA, United States, (7)University of Florida, Soil and Water Science, Ft Walton Beach, FL, United States, (8)Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Blacksburg, VA, United States, (9)University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
Abstract:
Extending from Virginia to east Texas in the southeastern United States, managed pine forests are an important component of the region’s carbon cycle. One objective of the Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is to improve estimates of how ecosystem carbon pools respond to the management strategies used to increase the growth of loblolly pine forests. Experimental studies (108 total) that had historically been used to understand forest productivity and stand dynamics by university-forest industry cooperatives have now been measured for the carbon stored in the trees, coarse-wood, forest floor, understory and soils to 1-meter (0-10 cm, 10-20 cm, 20-50 cm, and 50-100 cm). The age of the studied forests ranged from 4-26 years at the time of sampling, with 26 years very near the period when these forests are commonly harvested. The study sites encapsulated a wide regional range in precipitation (1080 mm -1780 mm) and potential evapotranspiration (716 mm – 1200 mm). The most prevalent three soil orders measured were Ultisols (62%), Alfisols (19%), and Spodosols (10%) with Entisols, Inceptisols and 1 Histosol making up the remainder (9%). <span">Across all study sites, 455 experimental plots were measured. The plots had as a treatment either fertilization, competition control, and stand density control (thinning), including every possible combination of treatments and also ‘no treatment’. The most common treatment regime, at 36% of the total number of plots, was the combination of competition control, fertilization, and thinning. The distribution of treatments relative to soils and climate prevented a simple analysis of single treatment effects and instead necessitated an examination how the carbon accumulation rate in wood, which is commonly measured and modeled in these forests, corresponded to the response of other C pools (e.g. forest floor and soil).
