Spatial patterns of bird community similarity: bird responses to landscape composition and configuration in the Atlantic forest

Studies dealing with community similarity are necessary to understand large scale ecological processes causing biodiversity loss and to improve landscape and regional planning. Here, we study landscape variables influencing patterns of community similarity in fragmented and continuous forest landscapes in the Atlantic forest of South America, isolating the effects of forest loss, fragmentation and patterns of land use. Using a grid design, we surveyed birds in 41 square cells of 100 km² using the point count method. We used multivariate, regression analyses and lagged predictor autoregressive models to examine the relative influence of landscape variables on community similarity. Forest cover was the primary variable explaining patterns of bird community similarity. Similarity showed a sudden decline between 20 and 40% of forest cover. Patterns of land use had a second order effect; native bird communities were less affected by forest loss in landscapes dominated by tree plantations (the most suitable habitat for native species) than in landscapes dominated by annual crops or cattle pastures. The effects of fragmentation were inconclusive. The trade-off between local extinctions and the invasion of extra-regional species using recently created habitats is probably the mechanism generating the observed patterns of community similarity. Limiting forest loss to 30–40% of the landscape cover and improving the suitability of human-modified habitats will contribute to maintain the structure and composition of the native forest bird community in the Atlantic forest.     

Spatial variability in soil nitrogen dynamics after prescribed burning in Ohio mixed-oak forests

This study describes the results of the application of a single dormant season prescribed fire to two southern Ohio forest sites for the purposes of restoring the ecosystem functional properties that existed in these sites prior to major human intervention (clearcutting, fire suppression, and atmospheric deposition). Each forest site was composed of three contiguous watershed units, two of which were burned in April of 1996. The forest sites differed in soil pH and available litter mass prior to the fires, and in both sites pH and available inorganic N varied among landscape positions such that inorganic C increased with increasing longterm soil moisture potential (measured as the GIS-derived Integrated Moisture Index [IMI] developed for this region). The fire temperatures at 10 cm above the litter surface were generally 150–300°C, and 29–80% of the litter was consumed, depending on site and landscape position. Soil solution total inorganic N (TIN) present one month after the fires did not differ significantly from that present prior to the fires in either burned or unburned watersheds, but was consistently greater in mesic landscape positions than in more xeric ones. N mineralization potential and organic C content varied both among fires and landscape positions. At the site which burned at higher intensity, soil N mineralization and TIN were both decreased by fire. At the less intensely burned site, fire resulted in increased TIN in the soils from the more xeric landscape position, and greater soil organic C in soils from the intermediate soil moisture areas. Path analysis produced models for fire-induced changes in C and N dynamics capable of explaining 26–69% of the observed variation using combinations of landscape and fire behavior. Losses of N to volatilization from these single fires were generally < 1 kg N/ha, and thus could not be expected to ameliorate the effects of atmospheric N deposition in these sites.     

Assessing the effects of subtropical forest fragmentation on leaf nitrogen distribution using remote sensing data

Subtropical forest loss resulting from conversion of forest to other land-cover types such as grassland, secondary forest, subsistence crop farms and small forest patches affects leaf nitrogen (N) stocks in the landscape. This study explores the utility of new remote sensing tools to model the spatial distribution of leaf N concentration in a forested landscape undergoing deforestation in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Leaf N was mapped using models developed from RapidEye imagery; a relatively new space-borne multispectral sensor. RapidEye consists of five spectral bands in the visible to near infra-red (NIR) and has a spatial resolution of 5 m. MERIS terrestrial chlorophyll index derived from the RapidEye explained 50 % of the variance in leaf N across different land-cover types with a model standard error of prediction of 29 % (i.e. of the observed mean leaf N) when assessed on an independent test data. The results showed that indigenous forest fragmentation leads to significant losses in leaf N as most of the land-cover types (e.g. grasslands and subsistence farmlands) resulting from forest degradation showed lower leaf N when compared to the original indigenous forest. Further analysis of the spatial variation of leaf N revealed an autocorrelation distance of about 50 m for leaf N in the fragmented landscape, a scale corresponding to the average dimension of subsistence fields (2,781 m²) in the region. The availability of new multispectral sensors such as RapidEye thus, moves remote sensing closer to widespread monitoring of the effect of tropical forest degradation on leaf N distribution.     

Plant productivity and nitrogen gas fluxes in a tallgrass prairie landscape

We explored relationships between plant productivity and annual fluxes of nitrogen (N₂) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) in a tallgrass prairie landscape in central Kansas. Our objective was to develop predictive relationships between these variables that could be used in conjunction with remote sensing information on plant productivity to produce large-area estimates of N gas fluxes. Our hypothesis was that there are inherent relationships between plant productivity and N gas fluxes in tallgrass prairie because both are controlled by water and N availability. The research was carried out as part of a multi-investigator project, the First ISLSCP Field Experiment (FIFE, ISLSCP = International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Program), directed toward the use of remote sensing to characterize land-atmosphere interactions. Fluxes of N₂ (denitrification) and N₂O were measured using soil core techniques. Estimates of annual flux were produced by temporal extrapolation of measured rates. Annual aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) was estimated from measurements of the maximum standing crop of plant biomass. There were strong relationships between ANPP and N gas fluxes, and between a satellite remote sensing-based index of plant productivity (normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI) and gas fluxes. We used these relationships to convert images of NDVI into images of N gas fluxes for one 83 ha watershed and for the entire 15 by 15 km FIFE site. These images were used to compute mean landscape gas fluxes (0.62 g N m^-2 y^-1 for N₂, 0.66 g N m^-2 y^-1 for N₂O) and total N gas production for the two areas. Our flux and production values are useful for comparison with values produced by simulation models and site-specific studies, and for assessing the significance of N gas production to ecosystem and landscape scale processes related to nutrient cycling, water quality and atmospheric chemistry.     

Microclimate influences on vegetation water availability and net primary production in coastal ecosystems of Central California

Field sampling and satellite remote sensing were used to test the hypothesis that site microclimate variability leading to divergent soil water use by vegetation types is closely associated with variability in annual net primary productivity (NPP) at the landscape scale. A simulation model based on satellite observations of seasonal phenology was used to estimate NPP of grassland, shrubland, and conifer forest vegetation types on the Central California coast near Big Sur. Daily microclimate at the soil surface was monitored over 4 years (2008–2011) for each vegetation type to infer soil moisture controls on plant production. Grassland soils were found to have lower soil organic matter content and were subjected to extreme radiation and wind events, and thereby dry-down faster with daily spring–summer warming than do shrubland or redwood forest soils. This reduced moisture microclimate affected the water stress on grassland plants to reduce NPP fluxes from April to October each year on the Central Coast far sooner than for shrubland or redwood stands. Results from this study suggested that the satellite-observed canopy greenness variations represented can be used to quantify plant production in coastal ecosystems at the landscape scale of defined microclimate variation.     

Soil nitrogen and carbon dynamics in a fragmented landscape experiencing forest succession

Forest fragmentation is an increasingly common feature across the globe, but few studies examine its influence on biogeochemical fluxes. We assessed the influence of differences in successional trajectory and stem density with forest patch size on biomass quantity and quality and N transformations in the soil at an experimentally fragmented landscape in Kansas, USA. We measured N-related fluxes in the laboratory, not the field, to separate effects of microclimate and fragment edges from the effects of inherent biomass differences with patch size. We measured net N mineralization and N₂O fluxes in soil incubations, gross rates of ammonification and nitrification, and microbial biomass in soils. We also measured root and litterfall biomass, C:N ratios, and δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N signatures; litterfall [cellulose] and [lignin]; and [C], [N], and δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N of soil organic matter. Rates of net N mineralization and N₂O fluxes were greater (by 113% and 156%, respectively) in small patches than in large, as were gross rates of nitrification. These differences were associated with greater quantities of root biomass in small patch soil profiles (664.2 ± 233.3 vs 192.4 ± 66.2 g m⁻² for the top 15 cm). These roots had greater N concentration than in large patches, likely generating greater root derived organic N pools in small patches. These data suggest greater rates of N cycling in small forested patches compared to large patches, and that gaseous N loss from the ecosystem may be related to forest patch size. The study indicates that the differences in successional trajectory with forest patch size can impart significant influence on soil N transformations in fragmented, aggrading woodlands.     

Temporal change in forest fragmentation at multiple scales

Previous studies of temporal changes in fragmentation have focused almost exclusively on patch and edge statistics, which might not detect changes in the spatial scale at which forest occurs in or dominates the landscape. We used temporal land-cover data for the Chesapeake Bay region and the state of New Jersey to compare patch-based and area–density scaling measures of fragmentation for detecting changes in the spatial scale of forest that may result from forest loss. For the patch-based analysis, we examined changes in the cumulative distribution of patch sizes. For area–density scaling, we used moving windows to examine changes in dominant forest. We defined dominant forest as a forest parcel (pixel) surrounded by a neighborhood in which forest occupied the majority of pixels. We used >50% and ≥60% as thresholds to define majority. Moving window sizes ranged from 2.25 to 5,314.41 hectares (ha). Patch size cumulative distributions changed very little over time, providing no indication that forest loss was changing the spatial scale of forest. Area–density scaling showed that dominant forest was sensitive to forest loss, and the sensitivity increased nonlinearly as the spatial scale increased. The ratio of dominant forest loss to forest loss increased nonlinearly from 1.4 to 1.8 at the smallest spatial scale to 8.3 to 11.5 at the largest spatial scale. The nonlinear relationship between dominant forest loss and forest loss in these regions suggests that continued forest loss will cause abrupt transitions in the scale at which forest dominates the landscape. In comparison to the Chesapeake Bay region, dominant forest loss in New Jersey was less sensitive to forest loss, which may be attributable the protected status of the New Jersey Pine Barrens.     

Soil C and N Content Under Evolving Landscapes in an Arid Inland River Basin of Northwest China

The state of a landscape is primarily reflected by its soil nutrients and organic matter status, which in turn are related to the type, size and number of landscape elements or patches. Evolving landscape patterns inevitably cause an evolution in ecosystem functionality. In particular, in arid regions, gained, lost and existing soil N and C pools have important ecological implications. The impacts of evolving landscapes in the middle reaches of the Heihe River basin of northwest China on soil organic C and N losses were assessed by both quantitative and computer modelling methods. In the period 1987-1997, patch transitions of the regions evolving landscapes have been predominantly characterized by a farmland expansion of 1.510³ km², and the desertification of 15.12% of existing farmlands into desert. As the result of such changes, alpine steppe and piedmont warm and desert steppe decreased by 43.9% and 2.72% respectively, whereas, plain swamp meadow and gobi and sandy desert increased by 13.2% and 10.77%, respectively. Consequently, soil organic matter and N contents decreased significantly in most landscape patches. In the study region, over these ten years, net soil organic C and N losses reached 5.30 Gg and 0.51 Gg, respectively, a pattern repeated over the entire arid inland region of northwest China, due to similar hydrological resources and patterns of regional development. Large soil C and N losses caused by landscape changes will inevitably result in significant new environmental problems.     

Associations between soil carbon and ecological landscape variables at escalating spatial scales in Florida,USA

The spatial distribution of soil carbon (C) is controlled by ecological processes that evolve and interact over a range of spatial scales across the landscape. The relationships between hydrologic and biotic processes and soil C patterns and spatial behavior are still poorly understood. Our objectives were to (i) identify the appropriate spatial scale to observe soil total C (TC) in a subtropical landscape with pronounced hydrologic and biotic variation, and (ii) investigate the spatial behavior and relationships between TC and ecological landscape variables which aggregate various hydrologic and biotic processes. The study was conducted in Florida, USA, characterized by extreme hydrologic (poorly to excessively drained soils), and vegetation/land use gradients ranging from natural uplands and wetlands to intensively managed forest, agricultural, and urban systems. We used semivariogram and landscape indices to compare the spatial dependence structures of TC and 19 ecological landscape variables, identifying similarities and establishing pattern–process relationships. Soil, hydrologic, and biotic ecological variables mirrored the spatial behavior of TC at fine (few kilometers), and coarse (hundreds of kilometers) spatial scales. Specifically, soil available water capacity resembled the spatial dependence structure of TC at escalating scales, supporting a multi-scale soil hydrology-soil C process–pattern relationship in Florida. Our findings suggest two appropriate scales to observe TC, one at a short range (autocorrelation range of 5.6 km), representing local soil-landscape variation, and another at a longer range (119 km), accounting for regional variation. Moreover, our results provide further guidance to measure ecological variables influencing C dynamics.     

Using indicators of land-use development intensity to assess the condition of coastal wetlands in Hawai‘i

Although wetland condition assessment procedures have been developed, validated, and calibrated in the continental United States, they have not yet been fully developed or field-tested for wetlands in Hawai‘i. In order to address the need for comprehensive assessment methods for Hawaiian coastal wetlands, our research compared three indicators of landscape condition (landscape development intensity, road density, and forest cover) with wetland condition as measured by rapid assessment methods (RAM) and detailed field data collected on soil and water quality. We predicted that wetlands located in the least developed landscapes would have more nutrient rich soils, yet lower nutrient levels in the surface water, and would receive the highest rapid assessment scores. The hypotheses of our study were generally supported. However, while the correlations between landscape variables and δ¹⁵N isotopes and CRAM scores were relatively strong, the correlations between the landscape indicators and the other Level II and III field indicators were not very strong. These results suggest that further calibration and refinement of metrics is needed in order to more accurately assess the condition of Hawaiian coastal wetlands. A more detailed land use map, in addition to more comprehensive assessments of wetland water quality and biotic integrity would likely improve the relationships between indicators of landscape condition and wetland condition. Nonetheless, our research demonstrated that landscape analysis at larger scales (1,000 m buffers and watersheds) could provide managers with valuable information on how regional stressors may be affecting wetland water quality (measured as δ¹⁵N in plant tissue) as well as overall wetland condition (RAM scores).     

Spatial covariation of soil organic carbon,clay content,and drainage class at a regional scale

Several factors affecting stocks of soil organic-C have been identified, including climate, soil texture, and drainage, but how these factors and their influence vary spatially is not well documented. The State Soil Geographic Data Base (STATSGO) was used to estimate soil organic-C stocks of Montana and Kansas and to map spatial variation of soil properties. Regressions across map units of area-weighted estimates of soil organic-C, clay content, and drainage class show that clay content is positively correlated with organic-C in Kansas, but that drainage class is a better indicator of soil with high and low organic-C stocks in Montana. About 85% of Kansas is covered by Mollisols. These grasslands of the North American Great Plains are where the paradigm relating clay content to stabilization of soil organic-C was developed. In contrast, clay content does not covary with soil organic-C across Montana. Only 30% of Montana is covered by Mollisols; the remainder includes rangeland, covered primarily by Aridisols and Entisols, and forests, covered by Inceptisols, Spodosols, and Histosols. Although other unidentified factors contribute to spatial variation in soil organic-C stocks in Montana, drainage class distinguishes the C-rich and the C-poor soils. When taken with similar results correlating soil C stocks with drainage class in a separate study of Maine, soil wetness emerges as an important controller of soil organic-C in northern states of the USA. Another objective was to compare STATSGO estimates (1:250,000 scale) of area covered by soil orders with estimates from the FAO/UNESCO Soils Map of the World (1:5,000,000). Agreement was excellent in Kansas and reasonably good in Montana. When used with regionally specific estimates for soil-C, the FAO map holds promise for regional and global extrapolation of soil C stocks.     

菜田氮素反硝化损失与N2O 排放的定量评价

 在田间条件下, 应用原状土柱培养- 乙炔抑制法测定蔬菜地氮肥反硝化损失和N₂O 排放量。结果表明, 在茄子- 灰泥土系统中, 不施氮肥处理下, 土壤氮素反硝化损失量和N₂O 排放量分别为N 22.8 kg·hm^-2和N 8.2 kg·hm^-2 ; 施氮肥处理下, 反硝化损失量和N₂O 排放量都极显著提高, 分别达N 37.9 和N33.8 kg·hm^-2 ; 氮肥反硝化损失量占施肥量的5.1 %, 产生的N₂O 排放量占施肥量的8.6 %。土壤氮素反硝化损失量和N₂O 排放量与土壤水分含量极显著相关, 而与土壤中铵态氮和硝态氮含量的相关性不显著。     

Presettlement landscape heterogeneity: Evaluating grain of resolution using General Land Office Survey data

General Land Office Survey (GLOS) records from the A.D. 1840s provide data for quantitative characterization of presettlement vegetation across western Mackinac County, Michigan, located within the mixed conifer-northern hardwoods forest region. We analyzed data from land survey plat maps and 1958 bearing, witness, and line trees from 162 surveyed section and quarter-section corners in order to map vegatation cover types at a level of spatial resolution appropriate for characterizing landscape heterogeneity using standard landscape ecological metrics. As also demonstrated by a number of both classic and contemporary plant-ecological studies, the distribution of landforms, soils properties, hydrology, and location of fire breaks all contribute to the heterogeneity in vegetation observed at a landscape scale in the region. Through a series of spatial landscape analyses with differing grain of resolution, in this study we determine that a grid cell size of 65 ha (0.5 mi×0.5 mi or 0.25 mi²) to 259 ha (1 mi²) gives a conservative characterization of landscape heterogeneity using standard metrics and is therefore appropriate for use of GLOS data to study historical landscape changes.     

城市生态（绿地）景观地域特征表达研究--以上海海湾国家森林公园为例

通过实地调查研究我国一些相关城市绿地地域特征明显的典型案例,阐述区域自然景观肌理、场所景观性格、人文历史脉络、社会文化需求是影响城市绿地地域景观特征表达的4个重要影响因素。剖析各因素的基本内涵、属性、因素间的融合性、相关性及其各类表达手法,以期为更好地塑造并展示城市绿地自身独特景观地域特征提供理论和实践应用依据。     

Revision and application of the LINKAGES model to simulate forest growth in central hardwood landscapes in response to climate change

Context

Global climate change impacts forest growth and methods of modeling those impacts at the landscape scale are needed to forecast future forest species composition change and abundance. Changes in forest landscapes will affect ecosystem processes and services such as succession and disturbance, wildlife habitat, and production of forest products at regional, landscape and global scales.

Objectives

LINKAGES 2.2 was revised to create LINKAGES 3.0 and used it to evaluate tree species growth potential and total biomass production under alternative climate scenarios. This information is needed to understand species potential under future climate and to parameterize forest landscape models (FLMs) used to evaluate forest succession under climate change.

Methods

We simulated total tree biomass and responses of individual tree species in each of the 74 ecological subsections across the central hardwood region of the United States under current climate and projected climate at the end of the century from two general circulation models and two representative greenhouse gas concentration pathways.

Results

Forest composition and abundance varied by ecological subsection with more dramatic changes occurring with greater changes in temperature and precipitation and on soils with lower water holding capacity. Biomass production across the region followed patterns of soil quality.

Conclusions

Linkages 3.0 predicted realistic responses to soil and climate gradients and its application was a useful approach for considering growth potential and maximum growing space under future climates. We suggest Linkages 3.0 can also can used to inform parameter estimates in FLMs such as species establishment and maximum growing space.

     

Soil saturation effects on forest dynamics: scaling across a southern boreal/northern hardwood landscape

Patch modeling can be used to scale-up processes to portray landscape-level dynamics. Via direct extrapolation, a heterogeneous landscape is divided into its constituent patches; dynamics are simulated on each representative patch and are weighted and aggregated to formulate the higher level response. Further extrapolation may be attained by coarsening the resolution of or lumping environmental data (e.g., climatic, edaphic, hydrologic, topographic) used to delimit a patch.Forest patterns at the southern boreal/northern hardwood transition zone are often defined by soil heterogeneity, determined primarily by the extent and duration of soil saturation. To determine how landscape-level dynamics predicted from direct extrapolation compare when coarsening soil parameters, we simulated forest dynamics for soil series representing a range of drainage classes from east- central Maine. Responses were aggregated according to the distribution of soil associations comprising a 600 ha area based on local- (1:12,000), county- (1:120,000) and state- (1:250,000) scale soil maps. At the patch level, simulated aboveground biomass accumulated more slowly in poorer draining soils. Different soil series yielded different communities comprised of species with various tolerances for soil saturation. When aggregated, removal of waterlogging caused a 20–60% increase in biomass accumulation during the first 50 years of simulation. However, this early successional increase and the maximum level of biomass accumulation over a 200 year period varied by as much as 40% depending on the geospatial data. This marked discrepancy suggests caution when extrapolating with forest patch models by coarsening parameters and demonstrates how rules used to rescale environmental data need to be evaluated for consistency.     

Stable Isotope Signatures and Landscape Functioning in Banded Vegetation in Arid-Central Australia

We examined how the measurement of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in soils, vegetation and invertebrates can contribute to understanding landscape processes in mulga Acacia aneura ecosystems characterised by alternating wooded groves and intergroves. Our analyses showed that greater leakiness of water from intergroves at the landscape scale tended to promote more conserving physiology at the plant scale. Thus isolated mulga trees in intergroves probably have higher water use efficiency than those in groves. Both trees and grasses in the intergroves have a greater reliance on recycled nitrogen than plants in the groves for which recently fixed N was a substantial source. Grasses in the intergroves had higher N concentrations than those in the groves despite the soil having lower N concentrations. A lack of variation in the isotopic signature of surface soil N suggested that the lower N concentrations in soils of intergroves than groves is due to lower rates of input and not shorter residence times. Stable isotopic signatures of invertebrates showed a diversity of feeding strategies amongst termite species and indicated symbiotic N fixation in two species. There was no relationship between the dependence on N fixation and the habitat preference or diet of termites. Our results suggest that with cautious interpretation, stable isotope signatures could contribute to understanding other ecosystems where patch-interpatch functioning is an important landscape process.     

Land use history (1840–2005) and physiography as determinants of southern boreal forests

Land use history has altered natural disturbance dynamics, causing widespread modifications of the earth’s forests. The aim of this study is to reconstruct a regional, spatially-explicit, fire and logging history for a large southern boreal forest landscape (6,050 km²) of eastern Canada. We then examined the long-term influence of land use history, fires, and physiographical gradients on the area’s disturbances regimes, present-day age structure and tree species composition. Spatially-explicit fire (1820–2005) and logging (1900–2005) histories were reconstructed from forestry maps, terrestrial forest inventories and historical records (local newspapers, travel notes, regional historical reviews). Logistic regression was used to model the occurrence of major boreal tree species at the regional scale, in relation to their disturbance history and physiographical variables. The interplay of elevation and fire history was found to explain a large part of the present-day distribution of the four species studied. We conclude that human-induced fires following the colonization activities of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have increased fire frequency and the dominance of fire-adapted species at lower elevations. At higher elevations, the low historical fire frequency has fostered the dominance of fire-sensitive species. Twentieth-century forestry practices and escaped settlement fires have generated a forest landscape dominated by younger forest habitats than in presettlement times. The expected increase of wildfire activity in North America’s eastern boreal forest, in conjunction with continued forest management, could have significant consequences on the resilience of boreal forests.     

Agricultural soil redistribution and landscape complexity

A number of hypotheses and conceptual models, particularly those emphasizing nonlinear dynamics and self-organization, postulate increases or decreases in complexity in the evolution of drainage basins, topography, soils, ecosystems, and other earth surface systems. Accordingly, it is important to determine under what circumstances and at what scales either trend might occur. This paper is concerned with changes in soil landscape complexity due to redistribution of sediment by fluvial, aeolian, and tillage processes at historical time scales in an agricultural field system near Grifton, North Carolina. Soil mapping and soil stratigraphic investigations were used to identify and map soil changes associated with erosion and deposition by water, wind, and tillage; reconstruct the pre-agricultural soil pattern; and identify transformations between soil types. The Kolmogorov entropy of the pre- and post- agricultural landscapes was then compared. The soil transformations associated with erosion and deposition created four distinct new soils and made possible new transformations among soil series, increasing the number of soil types from seven to 11 and the number of possible transformations from 14 to 22. However, the entropy and complexity of the soil landscape decreased, with associated increases in information and redundancy. The mass redistributions created a lower-entropy landscape by concentrating particular soils and soil transformations in specific landscape settings. This result is contrary to studies showing a trend toward increasing pedological complexity at comparable spatial scales, but over much longer time scales. These results point to the importance of temporal scale, and to the fact that environmental complexity is influenced by factors other than the number of different landscape units present.     

Soil carbon pools in Swiss forests show legacy effects from historic forest litter raking

Globally, forest soils contain twice as much carbon as forest vegetation. Consequently, natural and anthropogenic disturbances affecting carbon accumulation in forest soils can alter regional to global carbon balance. In this study, we evaluate the effects of historic litter raking on soil carbon stocks, a former forest use which used to be widespread throughout Europe for centuries. We estimate, for Switzerland, the carbon sink potential in current forest soils due to recovery from past litter raking (‘legacy effect’). The year 1650 was chosen as starting year for litter raking, with three different end years (1875/1925/1960) implemented for this forest use in the biogeochemical model LPJ-GUESS. The model was run for different agricultural and climatic zones separately. Number of cattle, grain production and the area of wet meadow have an impact on the specific demand for forest litter. The demand was consequently calculated based on historical statistical data on these factors. The results show soil carbon pools to be reduced by an average of 17 % after 310 years of litter raking and legacy effects were still visible 130 years after abandonment of this forest use (2 % average reduction). We estimate the remaining carbon sink potential in Swiss forest due to legacy effects from past litter raking to amount to 158,000 tC. Integrating historical data into biogeochemical models provides insight into the relevance of past land-use practices. Our study underlines the importance of considering potentially long-lasting effects of such land use practices for carbon accounting.