Long-term effects of clear-cutting and selective cutting on soil methane fluxes in a temperate spruce forest in southern Germany

► Long-term, sub-daily measurements of CH4 exchange at differently managed forest sites. ► Inter-annual variability in CH4 uptake is affected by annual precipitation. ► Clear-cutting reduces the CH4 sink strength of forest soils, whereas thinning has no significant effect. ► Sink strength changes due to clear cutting are long-term and were still present approx. nine years following forest harvest.