Long-term Soil Productivity

• Overview
• Objectives
• Study Sites
• BC LTSP on-line publications
• BC LTSP Published Refereed Journal Articles
• Project Contact
• Site Contacts

Overview

The Long-Term Soil Productivity (LTSP) study was established to demonstrate how alteration of soil porosity and organic matter (two of the more alterable soil properties) would affect soil processes and site productivity throughout forest lands of North America. The experimental design is a 3 x 3 factorial with 3 levels of organic matter loss and 3 levels of soil compaction. The organic matter (OM) treatments include stem-only harvest, whole-tree harvest, and forest floor displacement to mineral soil. The compaction treatments include no compaction, light compaction (2 cm impression), and heavy compaction (4 cm impression). In BC, we have three replicate blocks in the Sub-Boreal Spruce (SBS) biogeoclimatic zone, three in the Boreal White and Black Spruce (BWBS) biogeoclimatic zone, three in the Interior Douglas-fir (IDF) biogeoclimatic zone on common, acidic forest soil, three in the IDF on sensitive calcareous soils, and two replicates have been installed in the Interior Cedar Hemlock (ICH) biogeoclimatic zone that complete an installation initiated by the USDA Forest Service in Idaho.

The Long-Term Soil Productivity Study is the only replicated long-term study of forest soil productivity and the effects of soil disturbance (both OM loss and compaction) in North America and one of the few in the world. The Long-Term Soil Productivity program is the world's largest co-ordinated effort to understand how soil disturbance affects long-term forest productivity. To be competitive in the green global market, BC must demonstrate that it is carrying out research on the impacts on forest productivity of site disturbance during timber and biomass harvesting. To better manage the forest resource, BC must invest in long-term studies that provide concrete results that can be applied to the refinement of forest practices, regulations, guidebooks, and 'best management practices'.

The overall benefits to BC's forest sector of the Long-Term Soil Productivity Study include increased certainty about soil disturbance and site productivity so that undue detrimental disturbance can be avoided and non-detrimental disturbance can avoid censure. The LTSP serves as a formal test for soil disturbance provisions in the Forest and Range Practices Act and also serves to demonstrate to the international scientific and environmental community that B.C. is serious about sustainable development.

Objectives

The underlying assumption in the study is that forest management practices that alter two main factors - soil porosity and site organic matter - can largely account for changes in site productivity (biomass production).

1. Determine the effects of different levels of organic matter (above-ground biomass and forest floor) retention and soil compaction on long-term forest soil productivity on a range of sites, climatic zones, and tree species.


2. Study the long-term effects of organic matter removal and soil compaction on soil nutrient status, soil physical properties, soil microclimate, soil biological activity, biodiversity of soil organisms, forest health, and nutrient cycling.


3. Identify causal relationships between soil properties that are altered by soil disturbance and long-term forest productivity.


4. Investigate the influence of ecosystem attributes on the effects of soil disturbance on long-term soil productivity.


5. Provide research sites for detailed studies into forest soils, nutrient cycling, forest productivity, and reclamation.


6. Provide sites that illustrate the effects of soil disturbance on forest productivity for extension/demonstration purposes.


7. Extend the results to operations, resource management, and policy evolution to demonstrate and ensure sustainable forest development.

Study Sites

BC LTSP on-line publications

• LTSPS Research Note 01 Second year response of plant communities; The SBS Long-term Soil Productivity Study


• LTSPS Research Note 02 Fourth Year Responses of Aspen and White Spruce; The BWBS Long-Term Soil Productivity Study


• LTSPS Research Note 03 Fourth-Year Plant Community Responses: The BWBS Long-Term Soil Productivity Study


• LTSPS Research Note 04 Nutrient Removals in Woody Biomass: Preliminary Estimates from the Sub-Boreal Spruce Long-Term Soil Productivity Study


• LTSPS Research Note 05 Soil Fauna in the Sub-Boreal Spruce (SBS) Installations of the Long-Term Soil Productivity (LTSP) Study of Central British Columbia: One-Year Results for Soil Mesofauna and Macrofauna


• LTSPS Research Note 06 Aspen and white spruce responses to organic matter removal and soil compaction in the BWBS Long-Term Soil Productivity Study


• LTSPS Research Note 07 Short-term Effects of Forest Soil Compaction and Site Organic Matter Removal on Mineralizable Soil Nitrogen in Central British Columbia


• LTSPS Research Note 08 Establishment of Long-term Soil Productivity Studies on Acidic Soils in the Interior Douglas-fir Zone.


• The Long-Term Soil Productivity Study in British Columbia. FRDA report 256.


• Soil compaction and soil organic matter loss: criteria for long-term soil productivity. Poster presented at 2003 North America Forest Soils Conference.

BC LTSP Published Refereed Journal Articles

• Hartmann, M., Lee, S., Hallam, S.J., Mohn, W.W. 2009. Bacterial, archaeal and eukaryal community structures throughout soil horizons of harvested and naturally disturbed forest stands. Environ. Microbiol. 11: 3045-3062.


• Tan, X., M.P. Curran, S.X. Chang, and D.G. Maynard. 2009. Early growth responses of lodgepole pine and Douglas-fir to soil compaction, organic matter removal, and rehabilitation treatments in southeastern British Columbia. For. Sci. 55: 210-220.


• Fleming, R.L., Robert F. Powers, Neil W. Foster, J. Marty Kranabetter, D. Andrew Scott, Shannon Berch, William Chapman, Richard D. Kabzems, Karen Ludovici, David M. Morris, Felix Ponder, Deborah S. Page-Dumroese, Paul Sanborn, Felipe G. Sanchez, Douglas M. Stone, and Allan E. Tiarks. 2006. Effects of organic matter removal and soil compaction on seedling performance: Response after 5 years on the LTSP sites. Can. J. For. Res. 36: 529-550.


• Kranabetter, JM, Sanborn, P, Chapman, WK and S Dubé. 2006. The contrasting response to soil disturbance between lodgepole pine and hybrid white spruce in sub-boreal forests. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 70:1591-1599.


• Mariani, L., S.X. Chang and R. Kabzems. 2006. Effects of tree harvesting, forest floor removal, and compaction on soil microbial biomass, microbial respiration, and N availability in a boreal aspen forest in British Columbia. Soil Biol. Biochem. 38: 1734-1744.


• Page-Dumroese, DS, Jurgensen, MF, Tiarks, AE, Ponder, Jr., F, Sanchez, FG, Fleming, RL, Kranabetter, JM, Powers, RF, Stone, DM, Elioff, JD, and Scott, DA. 2006. Soil physical property changes at the North American Long-Term Soil Productivity study sites: 1 and 5 years after compaction. Can. J. For. Res. 36: 551-564.


• Sanchez, FG, Tiarks, AE, Kranabetter, JM, Page-Dumroese, DS, Powers, RF, Sanborn, PT, and Chapman, WK. 2006. Effects of organic matter removal and soil compaction on fifth-year mineral soil carbon and nitrogen contents for sites across the United States and Canada. Can J For Res 36: 565-576.


• Choi, W-J., S.X. Chang, M.P. Curran, and H-M. Ro. 2005. Foliar d13C and d15N Response of Lodgepole Pine and Douglas-fir Seedlings to Soil Compaction and Forest Floor Removal. For. Sci. 51: 546-555


• Curran, M.P., R.E. Miller, S. W Howes, D.G. Maynard, T.A. Terry, R.L. Heninger, T. Niemann, K. van Rees, R.F. Powers, and S.H. Shoenholtz. 2005. Progress towards more uniform assessment and reporting of soil disturbance for operations, research and sustainability protocols. For. Ecol. and Mgmt. 220: 17-30.


• Haeussler, S., and R. Kabzems. 2005. Aspen plant community response to organic matter removal and soil compaction. Can J For Res 35: 2030-2044.


• Kabzems, T., and S. Haeussler. 2005. Soil properties, aspen, and white spruce responses 5 years after organic matter removal and compaction treatments. Can. J. For. Res. 35: 2045-2055.


• Kamaluddin, M., S.X. Chang, M.P. Curran, and J.J. Zwiazek. 2005. Soil compaction and forest floor removal affect early growth and physiology of lodgepole pine and Douglas-fir in British Columbia. For. Sci. 51: 513-521.


• Battigelli, J.P., John R. Spence, David W. Langor, and Shannon M. Berch. 2004. Short-term impact of forest soil compaction and organic matter removal on soil mesofauna density and oribatid mite diversity. Can. J. For. Res. 34: 1136-1149.


• Kranabetter, J. M., and Chapman, B. K. 2004. An analysis of litter nitrogen dynamics using artificial soils across a gradient of forest soil disturbances. Can. J. Soil Sci. 84: 159-167.


• Axelrood, P.E., M.L. Chow, C.C. Radomski, J.M. McDermott, and J. Davies. 2002. Molecular characterization of bacterial diversity from British Columbia forest soils subjected to disturbance. Can. J. Microbiol. 48: 655-674.


• Axelrood, P.E., M.L. Chow, C.S. Arnold, K. Lu, J.M. McDermott, and J. Davies. 2002. Cultivation-dependant characterization of bacterial diversity from British Columbia forest soils subjected to disturbance. Can. J. Microbiol. 48: 643-654.


• Chow, M.L., C.C. Radomski, J.M. McDermott, J. Davies, and P.E. Axelrood. 2002. Molecular characterization of bacterial diversity in Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) rhizosphere soils from British Columbia forest soils differing in disturbance and geographic source. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 42: 347-357.


• Haeussler, S., L. Bedford, A. Leduc, Y. Bergeron, and J.M. Kranabetter. 2002. Silvicultural disturbance severity and plant communities of the southern Canadian boreal forest. Silva Fennica 36: 307-327.


• Stone, D.M. and R. Kabzems. 2002. Aspen development on similar soils in Minnesota and British Columbia after compaction and forest floor removal. For. Chron. 78: 886-891.


• Tan, X, S.X. Chang and R. Kabzems. 2005. Effects of soil compaction and forest floor removal on soil microbial properties and N transformations in a boreal forest long-term soil productivity study. For. Ecol. Mgmt. 217:158-170.


• Arocena, J.M. 2000. Cations in solution form forest soil subjected to forest floor removal and compaction treatments. Forest Ecology and Management 133: 71-80.


• Conlin, T.S.S., and R. van den Driessche. 2000. Response of soil CO2 and O2 concentrations to forest soil compaction at the Long-term Soil Productivity sites in central British Columbia. Can. J. Soil Sci. 80: 625-632.


• Arocena, J.M., and P. Sanborn. 1999. Mineralogy and genesis of selected soils and their implications for forest management in central and northeastern British Columbia. Can. J. Soil Sc. 79:571-592.


• Kranabetter, J.M. and Chapman, B.K. 1999. Effects of forest soil compaction and organic matter removal on leaf litter decomposition in central British Columbia. Can. J. Soil Sci. 79: 543-550.

Theses

• Tan, X. 2006. Effects of forest management practices on C, N, and P cycling in boreal forests. Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Alberta.


• Battigelli, J.P., 2000. Impact of soil compaction and organic matter removal on soil fauna in the Sub-Boreal Spruce biogeoclimatic zone of central British Columbia. Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Alberta.

Links

USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory - Moscow, Idaho
Long-Term Soil Productivity (LTSP) Study
http://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/smp/ltsp/index.html

Southern Pine Ecology and Management, Long Term Soil productivity Study
http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/4159/LTSP.html

Jack Pine Ecosystem Productivity Project
http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/projects/219

Project Contact

Shannon Berch, Forest Soils Ecologist

Site Contacts

Ministry contact: Shannon Berch.
Please direct questions regarding webpage to For.Prodres@gov.bc.ca
Updated April 2012