Soil carbon cycling response to hemlock mortality at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory

We studied the impacts of hemlock mortality from infestation by the hemlock woolly adlegid (HWA) on soil carbon cycling at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory. The HWA was first found at Coweeta in 2003. In 2013 and 2014, we re-sampled plots established in an earlier study by Elliott and others. There were 12 20 x 20 m plots: 4 were control hardwood stands, 4 were untreated hemlock communities, and 4 were hemlock that were girdled. We measured soil C and N concentration, soil delta 13 C, exoemzyme activities, root biomass, soil respiration, forest floor mass, and fungal hyphal biomass.