Short-term effect of thinning on carbon storage in soil, forest floor and coarse woody debris of Quercus spp. stand in Hoengseong, Gangwon-do, Korea

This study was conducted to investigate the short-term effect of thinning on the carbon (C) storage of soil, forest floor and coarse woody debris (CWD) in a Quercus spp. stand in Hoengseong, Gangwon-do, Korea. Thinning was conducted in March 2010 with different thinning intensities based on the removed volume in each plot: no thinning (control, 0%), light thinning (L, 15%), moderate thinning (M, 20%), and heavy thinning (H, 35%). We measured the C storage at four different depths ranging from 0–50 cm, on the forest floor and in CWD four months after thinning in July 2010. The total C storage (Mg C ha−1) in soil, forest floor and CWD of L was significantly lower than that of the three other plots at an early stage of thinning: 38.5 for control, 31.1 for L, 40.6 for M and 45.8 for H. Further long-term monitoring will be needed to observe the total C storage in soil, forest floor and CWD in this study stand because the total C storage with different thinning intensities might vary temporally.