Elemental storage of forest soil from local to global scales

The storage of available soil fertility elements is a cornerstone of the sustainability of forest elemental cycles at the local scale, as well as to those on the global scale. Total soil elemental storage per m(2) for relatively undisturbed sites utilizing cumulative depth functions of amounts of storage for local soil pit profiles was eventually expanded to a world wide database from more than 3000 sites. Examples are presented that apply these data to carbon and nitrogen storage problems ranging in scale from local sites in California's Lake Tahoe Basin to soils at global levels. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.