Determination of elements removal in different harvesting scenarios of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands

Increasing demand for renewable energy and limiting CO₂ emissions have stimulated much interest in wood-based biofuels. Unfortunately, expanding the utilization of forest biomass may cause nutrient depletion in forested environments. This study investigates the element content from various parts of the tree. Comparisons were made between different harvesting scenarios and their impact on the amount of nutrients removed from the forest environment. The harvesting scenarios were: stem-only harvesting (SOH), branch and stem harvesting (BSH), and two variants of whole-tree harvesting (WTH). The elements taken into account were: carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), sulphur (S), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr) and lead (Pb). To make the results comparable, the same amount of removed biomass was taken into calculation. The differences between harvesting scenarios were significant. The amounts of removed elements formed similar pattern: the lowest level was found in SOH, average in BSH, and highest in both variants of WTH. This confirms that the application of WTH is connected with increased risk of nutrient depletion, even when the volume of harvest would be equal to other variants.