Impacts of Forest Harvest on Active Carbon and Microbial Properties of a Volcanic Ash Cap Soil in Northern Idaho
Read full paper at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=53002#.VK9BrsnQrzE Author(s) Deborah S. Page-Dumroese 1* , Matt D. Busse 2 , Steven T. Overby 3 , Brian D. Gardner 4 , Joanne M. Tirocke 1 Affiliation(s) 1 USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Moscow, USA . 2 USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Davis, USA . 3 USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Flagstaff, USA . 4 USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, Moscow, USA . ABSTRACT Soil quality assessments are essential for determining impacts on belowground microbial community structure and function. We evaluated the suitability of active carbon (C), a rapid field test, as an indicator of soil biological quality in five paired forest stands (clear cut harvested 40 years prior and unharvested) growing on volcanic ash-cap soils in northern Idaho. Active C was compared with several traditional measur...