Distribution of Carbon in a Piedmont Soil as Affected by Loblolly Pine Management

Little information is available to accurately estimate carbon (C) in soil and root system pools of Piedmont sites. Loblolly pine plantations established on the Clemson Experimental Forest in the late 1930s represent some of the oldest pine plantations in the South and afford an excellent opportunity to study their role in sequestering atmospheric C. This chapter describes the distribution of C in soil and root-system biomass after 55 yr of pine plantation management on a poor quality Piedmont site, aims to model the increase in soil and root-system C following agricultural abandonment, and also describes effects of harvest on soil and root system C pools over a 13-yr period. The major portion of the study site, based on plant and other site indicators, falls within the subxeric type in Jones' Landscape Ecosystem Classification System for the upper Piedmont.