Recent public concerns surrounding climate change and greenhouse gas emissions have resulted in a lively debate about approaches to fossil fuel offsets and carbon (C) sequestration in forests. The forest community sees opportunities for the intensification of the use of forests for markets ranging from forest products, such as fuel or fuel feedstock, to a range of new bioproducts. This report provides initial insights from an ongoing effort to synthesize forest soils data for Maine. The specific objectives presented here were (1) to develop descriptive statistics for C and measures of available forms of the essential nutrients N, P, and Ca in Maine forest soils; (2) to evaluate the ecological stoichiometry of forest soil C relative to available N, P, and Ca; and (3) to highlight information needs to address the simultaneous goals of forest use, C sequestration, and forest sustainability.
- forest soils,
- soil carbon content,
- nutrient cycles