Soil Carbon Storage Under Multiple Southern Pine Silvicultural Systems.

While the focus on soil carbon storage in southern pine ecosystems has largely been conducted in intensively managed loblolly pine plantations, most of the southern pine ecosystem is managed under less intensive silviculture. Various silvicultural systems are used in southern pine, ranging from even-aged, artificially regenerated plantations to naturally regenerated, even-aged stands (seed-tree, shelterwood, and clearcut), to naturally regenerated, uneven-aged stands.  Because these systems all affect both carbon capture and decomposition factors, carbon storage belowground may be different.  We measured soil carbon to 1 m in representative stands of each of these silvicultural systems at the Crossett Experimental Forest in southern Arkansas and will report on the influence of silvicultural system on carbon storage.