Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/84962

JaLCDOI : 10.14943/EJFR.22.49

KEYWORDS : carbon balance;clear-cut harvesting;eddy covariance;long-term flux monitoring;net ecosystem exchange of CO2

Clear-cut harvesting is one of the important types of forest management but is considered to be a large CO2 source to the atmosphere. Understanding how this form of logging affects a site’s CO2 balance is critical for determining appropriate management scenarios, yet we have little understanding of how wood harvesting affects the ecosystem CO2 balance. An experimental clear-cutting and plantation establishment study has been conducted in a cool-temperate mixed forest in northern Japan to obtain a complete series of pre- and post-harvest data on the net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) between the ecosystem and the atmosphere until a disturbed ecosystem once more become a net CO2 sink in the annual budget and recapture all the emitted CO2 after the harvest. A mixed forest, which had been a weak CO2 sink, was disturbed by clear-cutting and was replaced with a hybrid larch (Larix gmelinii × L. kaempferi) plantation. The ecosystem turned to be a large CO2 source just after the harvesting in 2003, and the cumulative net CO2 emission reached up to 15.4 MgC ha–1 at 7 years after the harvesting, then the ecosystem turned to be a CO2 retrieve mode (CO2 sink in the annual budget). This ecosystem recaptured all CO2 emission 18 years after the harvesting in 2020, if off-site carbon storage in forest products is not considered. This implies one harvesting operation cause large invisible and long-lasting effect on the forest ecosystem CO2 balance.