Depth-Dependent Mineral Soil CO2 Production Processes: Sensitivity to Harvesting-Induced Changes in Soil Climate

Forest harvesting induces a step change in the climatic variables (temperature and moisture), that control carbon dioxide (CO2) production arising from soil organic matter decomposition within soils. Efforts to examine these vertically complex relationships in situ within soil profiles are lacking. In this study we examined how the climatic controls on CO2 production change within vertically distinct layers of the soil profile in intact and clearcut forest soils of a humid temperate forest system of Atlantic Canada. We measured mineral soil temperature (0, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 cm depth) and moisture (0-15 cm and 30-60 cm depth), along with CO2 surface efflux and subsurface concentrations (0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 35, 50, 75 and 100 cm depth) in 1 m deep soil pits at 4 sites represented by two forest-clearcut pairs over a complete annual cycle. We examined relationships between surface efflux at each site, and soil heat, moisture, and mineral soil CO2 production. Following clearcut harvesting we observed increases in temperature through depth (1-2°C annually; often in excess of 4°C in summer and spring), alongside increases in soil moisture (30%). We observed a systematic breakdown in the expected exponential relationship between CO2 production and heat with mineral soil depth, consistent with an increase in the role moisture plays in constraining CO2 production. These findings should be considered in efforts to model and characterize mineral soil organic matter decomposition in harvested forest soils.