RESUMO
A sampling plot investigation was conducted to study the soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in 0-40 cm layer in 10-, 15-, 26- and 61 years old Larix gmelinii plantations in Great Xing' an Mountains of Northeast China as well as the temporal variation pattern of the SOC source/sink during the plantation management after the clear cutting of primary L. gmelinii forest. With the increasing age of the plantations, the SOC storage increased after an initial decrease, and the inflection point was at a stand age between 15- and 26-years old. Compared with that of primary forest, the SOC storage of the plantations played a role of carbon source at early stage (10-26 years old), but gradually transformed into carbon sink then, with a SOC storage of 158.91 t x hm(-2) in 61-year-old plantation. The SOC storage of the plantations increased with soil depth initially, but was higher in upper soil layer than in deeper soil layer after the stand age being 26, which implied that human disturbance had strong effects on the vertical distribution of SOC. It was considered that the appropriate cutting age for the L. gmelinii plantations in Great Xing' an Mountains could be at least 60 years old.
