Part of the Carbon in Global Boreal and Alpine Soils Under Climate Change-Driven Land Use fellowship sampling.

LUKE, Finland

Soils were collected from a single site near Maaninka, Finland (near Kuopio). It was within 100 metres of a lake and was a mineral soil converted from forest. Samples were taken for wheat, pasture (non-grazed), abandoned farmland (forested birch), and forest (four replicates due to a high diversity of tree types).

The land gently sloped in the wheat field towards the lake but was mostly flat in the pasture. The pasture had a mixture of forbs, primarily clover and a grass (timothy?), and did not appear grazed; the wheat field was uniform wheat. Forested areas were completely flat but had ditches along field edges, with a canopy broken by trees at different stages of growth (birch, Scots pine). Abandoned land (mostly very young birch under 20 years old) was highly sloped and closest to the lake. Overall land patterns near Maaninka featured patchy farmland interspersed with living forest, contrasting with the large unbroken farmland of England, Ireland, and Saskatoon. Substantial data should exist from an eddy-covariance tower in the pasture field. Samples were taken in one day and refrigerated before processing.