Soil organic matter mobilization by re-compaction of old forest skid trails

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Meisam Nazari
  • Malte Horvat
  • Rainer Georg Joergensen
  • Stephan Peth

External Research Organisations

  • University of Kassel
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Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number103173
JournalEuropean journal of soil biology
Volume98
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2020
Externally publishedYes

Abstract

Wood harvesting is restricted to a system of permanent skid trails in order to minimize the soil disturbance and damage. Therefore, it is not the compaction of previously undisturbed forest soil, but the re-compaction of already existing skid trails that is of practical relevance when investigating machinery-induced wood harvest effects on soil properties. This study investigated the effects of machinery-induced re-compaction on soil physical, chemical, and microbiological properties of an old skid trail in a spruce forest by wheeling 8 times with a maximum total load of 32.2 Mg, using a genuine old skid trail as a control. Re-compaction significantly increased the bulk density and reduced the porosity, whereas the soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (N) contents were not significantly affected. However, re-compaction reduced the SOC/total N ratio by 10%, suggesting considerable SOC mineralization after re-compaction. K 2SO 4 extractable C contents were increased by 94% at 0–3 cm and 67% at 7–10 cm depth after re-compaction. This led to 20% and 90% increased microbial biomass C/soil organic C (MBC/SOC) ratios at 0–3 cm and at 7–10 cm depth, respectively. In contrast, the ergosterol/MBC ratio was significantly decreased by 10% at 0–3 cm and by about 30% at 7–10 cm depth by re-compaction, apparently due to the promotion of bacteria and mobilization of soil organic matter.

Keywords

    Soil compaction, Porosity, Extractable C, Microbial biomass, Ergosterol, Skid trail

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cite this

Soil organic matter mobilization by re-compaction of old forest skid trails. / Nazari, Meisam; Horvat, Malte; Joergensen, Rainer Georg et al.
In: European journal of soil biology, Vol. 98, 103173, 06.2020.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Nazari M, Horvat M, Joergensen RG, Peth S. Soil organic matter mobilization by re-compaction of old forest skid trails. European journal of soil biology. 2020 Jun;98:103173. doi: 10.1016/j.ejsobi.2020.103173
Nazari, Meisam ; Horvat, Malte ; Joergensen, Rainer Georg et al. / Soil organic matter mobilization by re-compaction of old forest skid trails. In: European journal of soil biology. 2020 ; Vol. 98.
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AU - Joergensen, Rainer Georg

AU - Peth, Stephan

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) for funding the “Bodmech” project with the funding code 22028715 . We are grateful to Gabriele Dormann, Markus Hammer-Weis, Margit Rode and Pouria Sadeghianfar for providing skillful technical assistance.

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