Table 6 Multi-response permutation procedure (MRPP) results comparing differences among groups of plots for carbon content (t C ha⁻¹) considering different forest treatments: (i) retention types as a whole, and (ii) retention types discriminated by years after harvesting from 2 to 18, where all primary unmanaged forests (PF) were used as control treatments for comparisons

PF

0.122 (0.449)

− 23.214 (< 0.001)

(i)

AG

− 21.704 (0.311)

Overall

− 10.731 (< 0.001)

PF

0.117 (0.468)

0.682 (0.730)

− 0.555 (0.273)

0.163 (0.461)

0.617 (0.683)

− 3.551 (0.005)

− 3.518 (0.005)

− 3.592 (0.007)

− 3.630 (0.006)

− 3.887 (0.005)

AG2

0.886 (0.817)

− 1.464 (0.085)

− 0.217 (0.348)

1.044 (0.879)

− 9.620 (< 0.001)

− 10.394 (< 0.001)

− 11.730 (< 0.001)

− 11.122 (< 0.001)

− 12.244 (< 0.001)

AG4

− 0.102 (0.380)

− 0326 (0.349)

− 1.016 (0.878)

− 3.722 (0.006)

− 4.145 (0.005)

− 4.085 (0.006)

− 3.991 (0.006)

− 4.148 (0.005)

(ii)

AG9

− 1.458 (0.077)

− 0.615 (0.259)

− 4.239 (0.006)

− 4.288 (0.006)

− 4.275 (0.006)

− 4.169 (0.006)

− 4.342 (0.006)

AG12

0.454 (0.606)

− 3.810 (0.006)

− 3.981 (0.005)

− 3.702 (0.008)

− 3.807 (0.007)

− 4.108 (0.006)

AG18

− 3.846 (0.006)

− 3.805 (0.006)

− 3.918 (0.007)

− 3.791 (0.007)

− 4.140 (0.006)

DR2

− 2.210 (0.036)

− 2.650 (0.025)

0.368

(0.622)

− 0.548 (0.263)

DR4

− 2.990 (0.013)

− 1.895 (0.055)

− 3.427 (0.008)

DR9

− 1.758 (0.063)

− 2.268 (0.037)

DR12

0.814 (0.784)

Overall

− 22.890 (< 0.001)