Microbial Processes > Long-Term Soil Productivity (LTSP) Study > Study Details: 4 - Joint Effort

Evaluating Management Impacts on Long-Term Soil Productivity: A Research and National Forest System Cooperative Study

Joint Effort

Our technological ability to disturb soil is advancing much faster than our assessment of its impact on fundamental resources. The oldest designed experiments in the U.S. rarely included the degree of soil disturbance possible using today's equipment. While case studies show that the productive potential of a site can be degraded by losses of organic matter and total soil porosity, the most definitive work has been done outside the U.S., and has centered on sandy soils and mesic to xeric moisture regimes. Work on finer-textured soils and in cooler and moister climates tends to be short-term, limited in scope, retrospective and often confounded. Because of this, results from existing research can not always be extended broadly to tackle the questions facing National Forest Systems.

A new approach, which crosses traditional lines of study, is needed to understand how management practices affect soil processes and potential productivity across a broad spectrum of sites. This cooperative study alters site organic matter and total soil porosity over a range of intensities encompassing those possible under management. This creates a network of comparable experiments producing nil to severe soil disturbance and physiological stress in vegetation over a broad range of sites and climates. Establishing and monitoring this network directly addresses the needs of National Forest Systems, and creates a research opportunity of unusual scope and significance. The work fosters close cooperation between Research and National Forest systems, and opens the door for important collaboration with university researchers.

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