DOI: 10.5061/dryad.pc866t1v2
title: Data for: How do harvesting methods applied in continuous-cover forestry and rotation forest management impact soil carbon storage and degradability in boreal Scots pine forests?

description: Forest management affects soil carbon (C) storage through forest
 composition, microclimate and litter inputs. How two major forest
 management systems, continuous-cover forestry (CCF) and clear-cut-based
 rotation forest management (RFM), differ in their impact on soil C in
 boreal forests is still poorly understood, however. We compared their
 effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and quality in boreal Scots
 pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) dominated forests in eastern Finland. We tested
 the hypotheses that (1) colder microclimates and continuous litter inputs
 will lead to higher SOC stocks in CCF plots than in clear-cuts and (2) the
 more labile litter in clear-cuts with varying ground vegetation will
 enhance SOC decomposition rates. We sampled uncut mature forests,
 clear-cuts, retention-cuts and gap-cuts, in which we analysed SOC
 concentrations and calculated the stocks. We measured stand
 characteristics such as diameter-at-breast height, basal area, dominant
 tree height, and understorey species coverage of the various treatments
 and modelled the above- and belowground litter inputs based on these
 parameters. We used laboratory incubation and sequential fractionation of
 SOC to assess its degradability under standardized conditions. To estimate
 the decomposition rate in the various environments we incubated cellulose
 bags in situ. We assessed the impact of microclimate on SOC decomposition,
 using data from soil-temperature and soil-moisture field measurements. We
 quantified the microbial biomass C pool, using chloroform fumigation
 extraction to gain insight on the impact of forest management practice on
 soil microbes. The SOC concentrations and SOC stocks did not differ
 significantly between the treatments, despite the presence of a warmer
 microclimate and lower litter inputs in the clear-cut plots. However, we
 found differences in the quality of the SOC. Soils in clear-cut sites
 showed lower proportions of labile SOC compounds than did the other
 treatments. As hypothesized, the decomposition rates were elevated in
 clear-cuts, but were equally as high within the canopy gaps on gap-cut
 stands. Our work highlights that forest management affects the quality,
 degradability, long-term accumulation and storage of SOC. We conclude that
 the accumulation of labile compounds in uncut forests and retention-cuts,
 combined with the decreased decomposition rates, indicate a higher
 potential for future C accumulation in the soil than in clear-cuts.
description: A detailed method description can be found in the article
 published in Forest Ecology and Management and the supplementary
 material.
description: The data is provided in an excel table. It contains a sheet
 called "pooled_samples" including all the analyses made from the
 pooled samples as described in the article. These include: <br>C and
 N concentrations and stocks, <br>tree and understorey biomass and
 annual aboveground and belowground litter, <br>decomposition rate of
 cellulose bags after in-situ incubation, <br>microbial biomass
 carbon, <br>soil respiration during lab incubation, <br>soil
 oragnic matter fractions,<br>soil texture, pH-value and
 stoniness<br>stand inventory measures (basal area, dominant tree
 hight, diameter at breast height) <br>Metadata can be found on the
 sheet "metadata" in the excel table.
 Furthermore the excel table contains the sheets
 "temperature_moisture" containing raw data from soil temperature
 and moisture measurements, "litterbags" (containing raw data
 from the cellulose bag experiment) and "spatial_samples"
 containing data about the spatial variability of C and N concentrations
 and stocks measured on one replicate per treatment.