Abstract. Partial cutting, which removes some individual trees from a forest, is one of the major and widespread forest management practices that can significantly alter both forest structure and carbon (C) storage. Using 746 observations from 82 publications, we synthesized the impacts of partial cutting on three variables associated with forest structure (i.e. mean annual growth of diameter at breast height (DBH), basal area (BA), and volume) and four variables related to various C stock components (i.e. aboveground biomass C (AGBC), understory C, forest floor C, and mineral soil C). Results shows that the growth of DBH elevated by 112% after partial cutting, compared to the uncut control, while stand BA and volume reduced immediately by 34% and 29%, respectively. On average, partial cutting reduced AGBC by 43%, increased understory C storage by 392%, but did not show significant effects on C storages on forest floor and in mineral soil. All the effects on DBH growth, stand BA, volume, and AGBC intensified linearly with cutting intensity (CI) and decreased linearly with the number of recovery years (RY). In addition to the strong impacts of CI and RY, other factors such as climate zone and forest type also affected forest responses to partial cutting. The data assembled in this synthesis were not sufficient to determine how long it would take for a complete recovery after cutting because long-term experiments were rare. Future efforts should be tailored to increase the duration of the experiments and balance geographic locations of field studies.
", "keywords": ["Biomass (ecology)", "0106 biological sciences", "Sustainable forest management", "Volume (thermodynamics)", "Diameter at breast height", "Forest Carbon Sequestration", "Estimation of Forest Biomass and Carbon Stocks", "Quantum mechanics", "01 natural sciences", "Environmental science", "Basal area", "Agricultural and Biological Sciences", "Life", "Forest structure", "QH501-531", "Development and Impacts of Bioenergy Crops", "FOS: Mathematics", "Climate change", "Carbon stock", "Agroforestry", "Biology", "QH540-549.5", "Nature and Landscape Conservation", "QE1-996.5", "Global and Planetary Change", "Understory", "Forest management", "Ecology", "Geography", "Physics", "Confidence interval", "Statistics", "Canopy", "Life Sciences", "Geology", "Forestry", "15. Life on land", "Clearcutting", "Climate Change Impacts on Forest Carbon Sequestration", "Forest Site Productivity", "FOS: Biological sciences", "Environmental Science", "Physical Sciences", "Tree Height-Diameter Models", "Agronomy and Crop Science", "Biomass Estimation", "Animal science", "Mathematics"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-3691-2013"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Biogeosciences", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5194/bg-10-3691-2013", "name": "item", "description": "10.5194/bg-10-3691-2013", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5194/bg-10-3691-2013"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-01-14T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.4141/s97-026", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:21:15Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2011-04-24", "description": "Forest management activities that decrease soil porosity and remove organic matter have been associated with declines in site productivity. In the northern Lake States region, research is in progress in the aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx. and P. grandidentata Michx.) forest type to determine effects of soil compaction and organic matter removal on soil properties and growth of aspen suckers, associated woody species, herbaceous vegetation, and on stand development. Four treatments: (1) total tree harvest (TTH); (2) TTH plus soil compaction (CPT); (3) TTH plus forest floor removal (FFR); and (4) TTH plus CPT + FFR were applied after winter-harvest of a 70-yr-old aspen stand growing on a loamy sand with a site index(age50) of 20.7\uffe2\uff80\uff82m. The CPT treatment significantly increased bulk density and soil strength of the surface 30\uffe2\uff80\uff82cm of soil and neither have recovered during the 5\uffe2\uff80\uff82yr since treatment. The CPT plots had 19.6 thousand (k) suckers ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921, less than half that of the TTH and FFR treatments; mean diameter (19.4\uffe2\uff80\uff82mm) and height (271\uffe2\uff80\uff82cm) were greatest on the TTH plots. The disturbance treatments (CPT, FFR, and CPT + FFR) each reduced biomass of foliage, stems, and total suckers compared with the TTH treatment. Total aboveground biomass (herbs + shrubs + suckers) was less than half that of TTH plots. There were 5.0\uffe2\uff80\uff82k saplings (suckers >2.5\uffe2\uff80\uff82cm DBH) ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921 on the TTH plots, but fewer than 1.0\uffe2\uff80\uff82k ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921 in the other treatments. The disturbance treatments decreased 5-yr growth of potential crop trees, delayed early stand development, and temporarily reduced stockability and site productivity of an aspen ecosystem. Key words: Soil compaction, organic matter removal, site productivity, stand development
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