Forest Management Systems and Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorous Cycling

The global cycling of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) are recognised as extremely important processes provided by the biosphere. The biogeochemical cycles of these elements are essential to maintaining and regulating the conditions for life – including human life. This is due to their continual supply of scarce elements needed for biotic metabolism, their role in stabilising temperature, humidity, salinity, acidity, and other environmental conditions, and their ability to convert toxic waste products from one form of life into nutrients for another. The biogeochemical cycles are also fundamental to the provisioning of a wide range of other ecosystem services, including food and raw material production and the provision of aesthetic, recreational, and spiritual values. The very term ‘biogeochemical cycle’ implies consideration of a system comprised of natural biological and geological processes. Indeed, much of the concurrent research on biogeochemistry has focused on the natural components of the cycles, for the most part omitting the processes contained within human systems and, importantly, the relationships occurring between natural and human systems. However, increasing recognition of biogeochemical-related environmental problems, including global climate change, widespread acidification of soils and waters, and eutrophication of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, has highlighted the significance of human activities within these cycles. Forest ecosystems are one of the largest sources of carbon and nutrients on the planet. Forest management practices might influence different links of soil biogeochemical processes as a cycle, for example, soil microbes would adjust to the changed amount and ratios of C, N, and P entering the soil, and then the ability of decomposition changed because of the changed soil microbes would influence amount and ratios of C, N, and P entering soil in turn. Thus, forest management systems play an important role in the cycle of these nutrients. In this paper, the role of forest management on C, N, and P cycles is analysed.