Retention forestry as a climate solution: Assessing biomass, soil carbon and albedo impacts in a northern temperate coniferous forest

作者：Kangyu So, Cheryl Rogers, Yiyao Li, M. Altaf Arain, Alemu Gonsamo · 发表于：The Science of The Total Environment · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174680 · 被引用次数：7 · 研究领域：Forest ecology and management、Forest Management and Policy、Soil erosion and sediment transport

Forest management pathways for nature-based climate solutions, such as variable retention harvesting (VRH), have been gaining traction in recent years; however, their net biochemical and biophysical impacts remain unknown. Here, we use a combination of close-range and satellite remote sensing, eddy covariance technique, and ground-based biometric measurements to investigate forest thinning density and aggregation that maintain ecosystem nutrients, enhance tree growth and provide a negative feedback to the local climate in a northern temperate coniferous forest stand in Ontario, Canada. Our results showed that soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in VRH plots were significantly lower (p < 0.05) for all VRH treatments compared to unharvested plots. On average, soil C was reduced by −0.64 ± 0.22 Δ% C and N by −0.023 ± 0.008 Δ% N in VRH plots. We also observed the largest loss of soil C and N in open areas of aggregate plots. Furthermore, the changes in albedo resulting from VRH treatment were equivalent to removing a large amount of C from the atmosphere, ranging from 1.3 ± 0.2 kg C yr−1 m−2 in aggregate 33 % crown retention plots to 3.4 ± 0.5 kg C yr−1 m−2 in dispersed 33 % crown retention plots. Our findings indicate that spatially dispersed VRH resulted in minimal loss of soil C and N and the highest understory growth and C uptake, while enhanced tree growth and local cooling through increased albedo were observed in dispersed VRH plots with the fewest residual trees. These findi...