Forest harvesting impacts on forested wetland forest ecosystem function – biogeochemical cycling

Abstract

The wetland ecosystem is located at the interface of the atmospheric, terrestrial and water system. It is one of the most biologically diverse ecological landscapes on earth and one of the most important environments for mankind. It also called “kidney” of the landscape because it can purify water that passed through the wetland. Forested wetland is one of the classifications of wetland, also defined as swamp, dominated by trees and plays a significant role in timber supply for forestry business. Forest harvesting such as clear-cut, is the most common silvicultural method used in forest regeneration. However, it can alter the functions of the forested wetland ecosystems –biogeochemical cycling. Data have been collected from several literature reviews and explores how forest harvesting impacts carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, calcium and potassium cycles. After data analysis, the five nutrients were reduced after forest harvesting, but the changes in nitrogen content were considered minimal. Harvesting has a direct impact on biogeochemical cycles and it is important to protect the wetlands by maintaining the levels of nutrients and quality of environment and ecosystem.