Title of Presentation or Performance

Carbon Chronosequence of a Northern Lower Michigan Forest Ecosystem

Submission Type

Event

Expected Graduation Date

2015

Location

Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University

Start Date

4-12-2014 2:00 PM

End Date

4-12-2014 3:00 PM

Disciplines

Biology | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Abstract

Forests serve as an important terrestrial carbon (C) reservoir and an integral part of the global C cycle. Disturbances, such as harvesting, affect this cycle and decrease the ability of forests to sequester C. We measured a 128 year chronosequence of soil, root, and above-ground C storage in forest stands of northern lower Michigan, USA. All forest plots experienced a disturbance of clear-cutting from 3-128 years ago. The Oe horizon of the 128 year old stand had significantly greater C storage than younger stands. Mineral soil at 0-10 and 10-20cm showed a different C storage relationship than the organic soil horizons. There was no effect on C storage of soil depths greater than 20cm. Standing tree biomass increased asymptotically, but all other areas of C sequestration did not differ across stands. These results show that forests vary in their recovery from disturbance.

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Apr 12th, 2:00 PM Apr 12th, 3:00 PM

Carbon Chronosequence of a Northern Lower Michigan Forest Ecosystem

Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University

Forests serve as an important terrestrial carbon (C) reservoir and an integral part of the global C cycle. Disturbances, such as harvesting, affect this cycle and decrease the ability of forests to sequester C. We measured a 128 year chronosequence of soil, root, and above-ground C storage in forest stands of northern lower Michigan, USA. All forest plots experienced a disturbance of clear-cutting from 3-128 years ago. The Oe horizon of the 128 year old stand had significantly greater C storage than younger stands. Mineral soil at 0-10 and 10-20cm showed a different C storage relationship than the organic soil horizons. There was no effect on C storage of soil depths greater than 20cm. Standing tree biomass increased asymptotically, but all other areas of C sequestration did not differ across stands. These results show that forests vary in their recovery from disturbance.