Research
Ground Preparation Impacts on Soil Carbon in Woodland Afforestation and Reforestation
Research Status:current
This project provides evidence and quantifies changes in soil carbon, including aboveground forest carbon, resulting from different ground preparation practices for forest planting.
The research focuses on organo-mineral soils, which are rich in carbon, are vulnerable to carbon loss through land-use change and cultivation, and make up a significant portion of the available planting area in the UK.
The project investigates the long-term impacts on these soils, as well as the short-term effects of various ground preparation practices on mineral soils.
This project is part of the Nature for Climate Fund.
Fieldwork has been conducted at two sites: Falstone 6 in Kielder Forest and Pepper Wood in Worcestershire.
This site involves a replicated long-term ground preparation experiment on organo-mineral soils. Soil analyses and aboveground forest measurements have been conducted for four different ground preparation treatments of varying intensity. The field data is currently undergoing statistical analysis.
This site is a Woodland Trust natural colonization experiment on mineral soils, testing various ground preparation practices. Baseline soil analysis was completed before treatment began, and soil respiration measurements have been taken regularly since the ground preparation treatments were implemented in September 2023.
DEFRA
Senior Biogeochemist / Soil Sustainability Research Leader