Different effects of continuous-cover and rotation forest management on soil organic carbon stabilization in a boreal Norway spruce forest

Clear-cut-based rotation forest management (RFM) is the dominant silvicultural system in boreal forests. Continuous-cover forestry (CCF), an emerging alternative, operates without clear-cutting. How these silvicultural regimes affect long-term SOC storage and quality remains unclear. This dataset contains measurements from a field study that examined the effects of CCF and RFM on SOC quantity and stabilization in spruce-dominated forests in central Finland. We sampled (1) recently clear-cut plots, (2) even-aged mature plots (both representing RFM stages), (3) uneven-aged CCF plots, and (4) uncut controls. We analysed SOC stocks, root biomass, condensed tannins (root metabolites) and soil fungal necromass (indicated by glucosamine). SOC recalcitrance and accessibility for decomposition were assessed through chemical and physical fractionation and laboratory incubation. 13C and 15N abundances indicated the decomposition stage of soil organic matter (SOM) and the contribution of mycorrhiza..., More clarification of terms and units can be found in the sheets named \"metadata\" in the data file.
More detailed method descriptions can be found in the publication linked to this dataset.
Soil characteristics
All soil attributes have been assessed separately for the organic topsoil layer (O-layer) and mineral soil (min), if not specified otherwise.
SOC stocks: calculated based on C content (of fine earth fraction), bulk density, and volume of soil layer
Root biomass: hand-picked, oven-dried (65 degrees C), sorted into tree fine roots (<2 mm), tree coarse roots (> 2 mm), dead roots, and understorey roots.
Condensed tannins: concentration of condensed tannins in the soil was analyzed with an acid-butanol assay.
Cumulative soil respiration under standardized conditions was measured during a 28 days laboratory incubation.
Soil fungal necromass: the amino sugar glucosamine was used as an indicator for fungal necromass.
Chemical fractionation: Conducted from organic lay..., # Data from: Different effects of continuous-cover and rotation forest management on soil organic carbon stabilization in a boreal Norway spruce forest

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.6m905qgdm](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6m905qgdm)

## Description of the data and file structure

The dataset is connected to the manuscript of the same name by Eva-Maria Roth, Outi-Maaria Sietiö, Bartosz Adamczyk, Pingping Xu, Sauli Valkonen, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Heljä-Sisko Helmisaari, and Kristiina Karhu, published in Forest Ecology and Management.

Corresponding author: Eva-Maria Roth ([[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail]))

Methods and research design are detailed in the article and the supplementary material.

The data is provided in one Excel table. It contains a sheet called \"all_data\", including all the analyses made from the pooled soil samples and measured on site as described in the article, given as one mean value per plot. The variables in this sheet are explained in...,