Response of vegetation and soil biological properties to deformation in logging trails in drained boreal peatland forests

Abstract

In the boreal region, peatland forests are a significant resource of timber. Under pressure from a growing bioeconomy and climate change, timber harvesting is increasingly occurring over unfrozen soils. This is likely to cause disturbance in the soil biogeochemistry. We studied the impact of machinery-induced soil disturbance on the vegetation, microbes, and soil biogeochemistry of drained boreal peatland forests caused by machinery traffic during thinning operations. To assess potential recovery, we sampled six sites that ranged in time since thinning from a few months to 15 years. Soil disturbance directly decreased moss biomass and led to an increase in sedge cover and a decrease in root production. Moreover, soil CO2 production potential, and soil CO2 and CH4 concentrations were greater in recently disturbed areas than in the control areas. In contrast, CO2 and CH4 emissions, microbial biomass and structure, and the decomposition rate of cellulose appeared to be uncoupled and did not show signs of impact. While the impacted properties varied in their rate of recovery, they all fully recovered within 15 years covered by our chronosequence study. Conclusively, drained boreal peatlands appeared to have high biological resilience to soil disturbance caused by forest machinery during thinning operations.