Carbon dynamics following clear-cutting of a northern hardwood forest

Carbon may be exported from the ecosystem in biomass for use in wood products. The effects of forest clearing on biogeochemical processes have been a focus of research in the northern hardwood forest ecosystem at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in central New Hampshire. Previous manipulations of experimental watersheds at Hubbard Brook have included clear-cutting without biomass removal, stem-only clear-cutting, and strip-cutting. The clear-cutting operation was intended to be a commercial whole-tree harvest, with very few restrictions imposed for scientific purposes. Data from the Watershed 5 study are in certain respects consistent with Covington's hypothesis, yet lead to the observation that physical site disturbance caused by logging machinery may be equally important to forest floor soil organic matter and C dynamics. The chapter suggests that the observed increases in stream dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations are largely the result of higher DOC concentrations in Bs horizon soil solutions.