DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17853192
title: Dataset for "Short-term effects of harvesting alternatives on soil nitrous oxide fluxes in a boreal drained peatland forest"

description: This dataset is part of a study evaluating short-term changes in soil nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes following two harvesting methods, clear-cutting (CC) and continuous-cover forestry via selection harvesting (CCF), compared to a non-harvested control (C) at the Ränskälänkorpi experimental site, a nutrient-rich, forestry-drained boreal peatland in southern Finland.

The dataset compiles N2O flux measurements obtained using manual chambers (MCs) during the 2020 (pre-harvest) and 2022 (first post-harvest) growing seasons, as well as continuous measurements from automated chambers (ACs) from mid-2020 to late 2022. Complementary measurements include soil physical, chemical, and environmental properties.

The dataset comprises 9 Microsoft Excel files:

1. Pre- and post-harvest forest stand characteristics – Stand density (Td), stand basal area (BA), and the percentage of each removed across the C, CC, and CCF sites.

2. Effects of harvesting methods on forest-floor environmental conditions – Mean daily and annual below-canopy air temperature (Ta), soil temperature at 5 cm (Ts), below-canopy photosynthetic active radiation (PAR), soil moisture at 5 cm (Sm), and water table level (WTL) at the C, CC, and CCF sites in 2021 (harvest year) and 2022 (first post-harvest year).

3. Pre- and post-harvest soil N2O fluxes – Mean daily N2O fluxes measured by MCs at the C, CC, and CCF sites during the pre-harvest year (2020) and the first post-harvest year (2022).

4. Temporal variation in soil N2O fluxes – Mean daily N2O fluxes measured by ACs at the C, CC, and CCF sites from mid-2020 to late 2022.

5. Spatial variation in soil N2O fluxes – Mean daily N2O fluxes at MC and AC sampling locations during the 2022 growing season.

6. Controlling factors of temporal variation in soil N2O fluxes – Non-gapfilled mean daily N2O fluxes measured by ACs at the C, CC, and CCF sites, along with Ta, Ts, Sm, WTL, and precipitation (P) from mid-2020 to late 2022. Also included are the mean lagged effects (1–7 days) of these variables (Ta_lag, Ts_lag, Sm_lag, WTL_lag, P_lag) and the cumulative precipitation over the previous 1–7 days (P_cum).

7. Controlling factors of spatial variation in soil N2O fluxes – Mean daily N2O fluxes during the 2022 growing season, along with carbon concentration, nitrogen concentration, CN ratio, soil nutrient concentrations, Ts, WTL, and bulk density across 0–10 cm and 10–20 cm soil layers, as well as peat depth at the C, CC, and CCF sites.

8. Deep soil controlling factors of topsoil N2O fluxes – Topsoil mean daily N2O fluxes during the 2022 growing season, along with carbon concentration, nitrogen concentration, CN ratio, and pH across soil layers from 0–10 cm to 70–80 cm at the C, CC, and CCF sites.

9. Annual cumulative soil N2O fluxes – Annual cumulative N2O emissions at the C, CC, and CCF sites based on AC and MC data for the harvest year (2021) and first post-harvest year (2022).

More details can be found in Martínez-García et al. (2026) Short-term effects of harvesting alternatives on soil nitrous oxide fluxes in a boreal drained peatland forest. Geoderma.

Contact information:Ph.D. Eduardo Martínez-García (eduardo.martinezgarcia@luke.fi, edu.martinez.garcia@gmail.com)Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Latokartanonkaari 9, FI-00790, Helsinki, Finland