Abstract Lithology influences forest carbon storage and productivity yet is often overlooked for forests of the eastern United States, a large and important carbon sink. This research explores the influence of two common lithologies of the Ridge and Valley physiographic province in the Appalachian Mountains, shales and sandstones, on live aboveground carbon storage, carbon uptake, forest community composition and their interrelationships. We couple forest inventory data from 565 plots from Pennsylvania state agencies with a suite of GIS derived landscape metrics including measures of climate, topography and soil physical properties to identify biotic and abiotic drivers of live forest carbon dynamics in relation to lithology. Forests growing on shale bedrock store more live aboveground carbon compared to forests on sandstone when controlling for stand age, which ranged from 20 to 200 years. Furthermore, forests in the dominant ages (81–120 years) store more live aboveground carbon (108.1 Mg/ha vs. 86.5 Mg/ha) and uptake live aboveground carbon at a faster rate (1.32 Mg/ha/yr vs 0.85 Mg/ha/yr) on shale compared to sandstone respectively. Overall forest communities on both lithologies are dominated by oaks (Quercus spp.), however northern red oak (Q. rubra) is more dominant at shale sites compared to chestnut oak (Q. prinus), which dominates on sandstone. Most species in the forest tend to be more productive on shale, which may account for differences in carbon pools and fluxes across the landscape. Tree species richness is higher in sites on shale bedrock, but biodiversity-productivity relationships within lithologic classifications fail to account for differences in forest productivity. Modeled live aboveground carbon storage points to topography (elevation and aspect) and soil physical properties (% clay and available water capacity) as important influences on forest productivity that related back to lithology. Incorporating lithology into forest management strategies that are focused on a variety of ecosystem services can aid future site selection, and we demonstrate that forests on shale bedrock grow faster, store more carbon and have higher species diversity. The results presented here highlight the potential for underlying bedrock to exert differential influences on forest ecosystem structure and function across a region.

中文翻译：

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基岩类型推动美国大西洋中部阿巴拉契亚山脊和山谷的森林碳储存和吸收

摘要 岩性影响森林碳储存和生产力，但美国东部的森林经常被忽视，这是一个巨大而重要的碳汇。本研究探讨了阿巴拉契亚山脉山脊和山谷自然地理省的两种常见岩性，即页岩和砂岩，对活体地上碳储存、碳吸收、森林群落组成及其相互关系的影响。我们将来自宾夕法尼亚州机构的 565 个地块的森林清单数据与一套 GIS 衍生的景观指标相结合，包括气候、地形和土壤物理特性的测量，以确定与岩性相关的活森林碳动态的生物和非生物驱动因素。在控制林龄（范围为 20 至 200 年）时，生长在页岩基岩上的森林与砂岩上的森林相比，可储存更多的地上碳。此外，处于优势年龄（81-120 年）的森林储存更多的活地上碳（108.1 毫克/公顷 vs. 86.5 毫克/公顷），并以更快的速度吸收活地上碳（1.32 毫克/公顷/年 vs 0.85 毫克/公顷）。公顷/年）分别与砂岩相比页岩。两种岩性上的整体森林群落都以橡树（Quercus spp.）为主，但与在砂岩上占主导地位的栗橡树（Q. prinus）相比，北部红橡树（Q. rubra）在页岩区的优势更大。森林中的大多数物种在页岩上的产量往往更高，这可能是整个景观碳库和通量差异的原因。页岩基岩上的树种丰富度较高，但岩性分类中的生物多样性-生产力关系无法解释森林生产力的差异。模拟的活地上碳储存指出地形（海拔和坡向）和土壤物理特性（粘土百分比和可用水容量）作为对森林生产力的重要影响，与岩性相关。将岩性纳入专注于各种生态系统服务的森林管理策略可以帮助未来的选址，我们证明页岩基岩上的森林生长速度更快，储存更多的碳并具有更高的物种多样性。此处呈现的结果强调了潜在基岩对整个区域的森林生态系统结构和功能产生不同影响的潜力。