Response of soil CO2 and O2 concentrations to forest soil compaction at the Long-term Soil Productivity sites in central British Columbia

Conlin, T. S. S. and van den Driessche, R. 2000. Response of soil CO and O concentrations to forest soil compaction at the 22 Long-term Soil Productivity sites, Central British Columbia. Can. J. Soil Sci. 80: 625–632. The concentrations of soil CO and 2 2 tions and average values increased in response to deeper sampling and compaction. Removal of the forest floor and other organic materials had no significant effect upon soil CO and O concentrations. Mean soil CO concentrations varied from site to site and 222 O were monitored over several growing seasons. These sites were treated with three levels of soil compaction and three levels of organic material removal following forest harvest. Both compaction and depth had a significant effect upon soil CO concentra- 2 at three Long-term Soil Productivity sites located in the Sub-Boreal Spruce biogeoclimatic zone of British Columbia, Canada, data collected over three growing seasons also showed that mean CO from year to year. The high levels of soil CO observed in this study (up to 40 000 μL L–1), especially in response to the com- 2 paction treatments, may have had a substantial effect upon whole plant carbon allocation as well as soil nutrition available to trees growing on the treated plots. Although mean soil O also decreased in response to compaction and sampling depth, these lower 2 concentrations did not approach the levels required to influence plant growth