Short-Term Effects of Experimental Burning and Thinning on Soil Respiration in an Old-Growth,

ABSTRACT / To understand the roles of forest management practices in meeting the goals of forest sustainability and CO2 sequestration, we evaluated the effects of burning and thin-ning treatments on soil respiration and soil environments in an old-growth, mixed-conifer forest in California’s southern Sierra Nevada. Six experimental treatments with two levels of burn-ing and three levels of thinning were implemented across three dominant patch types: closed canopy (CC), Ceanothus shrub (CECO), and open canopy (OC). We measured soil res-piration rate (SRR), soil temperature (T10), moisture (Ms), and litter depth (LD), in the summers of 2000 and 2002. Soil total C and total N were measured in 2002. SRR was significantly different among the three patch types. In 2000, SRR was 0.75, 0.86, and 0.26 g CO2 m-2 hr-1 in CC, CECO, and OC