| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4573012 | Geoderma | 2016 | 8 Pages |
•Logging treatments were assessed relative to effects on soil hydraulic properties.•Logging road and log landing treatments reduced saturated hydraulic conductivity.•Higher water retention occurred for two water pressures for recently logged area.•Macroporosity and coarse mesoporosity were greater for recently logged treatment.•Study provides quantitative data on properties affected by tree harvesting methods.
Previous studies have shown that once compacted, forest soils often recover slowly over many decades to pre-disturbed levels for soil properties such as bulk density or penetrometer resistance. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of selected harvesting techniques on soil physical and hydraulic properties. The effects of logging roads, log landing areas, and logged areas on soil properties of water retention, saturated hydraulic conductivity (KSat), pore-size distributions, and bulk density were investigated on harvested sites within the Mark Twain National Forest in Callaway County, Missouri, USA on claypan landscape with a moderately well-drained Keswick soil (fine, smectitic, mesic Aquertic Chromic Hapludalfs). Soil cores (7.6 cm by 7.6 cm) were removed in four 10-cm depth increments. Bulk density was significantly greater (P < 0.01), and KSat was significantly lower (P < 0.01) under the logging road and log landing areas as compared to the logged area treatment. No statistical differences in bulk density and KSat values occurred among treatments at the deepest sampling depth (30 to 40 cm). For the 0 and − 0.4 kPa soil water pressures, water retention was 14% greater and 9% greater for the logged areas versus the logging road and log landing areas averaged across all soil depths, respectively. For the macropores (> 1000 μm diameter) and coarse mesopores (60 to 1000 μm diameter) combined, values were 131% greater for the logged area compared to logging road and log landing areas within the 0 to 10 cm depth. From this study, the methods used in the logged area appear to have caused small changes to soil physical and hydraulic properties; however, significant changes to these properties occurred for logging road and the log landing areas.
