Soil nitrogen dynamics following harvesting and conversion of red alder and Douglas fir stands
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
- Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
Drastic reductions in NO[sub 3][sup [minus]] leaching have been observed after harvesting of mature red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) stands. Our objective was to examine whether these reduction were linked to changes in soil N dynamics. Adjacent alder and Douglas fir [Pseudotsuga menziessii (Mirbel.) Franco] stands on young glacial soils (Alderwood; a loamy-skeletal, mixed, mesic, ortstein Aquic Haplorthod) in western Washington were harvested and replanted with either alder or Douglas fir seedlings; reference plots were established in nearby undisturbed stands. Three years after site conversion, when NO[sub 3][sup [minus]] leaching declined most drastically in the harvested alder plots, net N mineralization and net nitrification in the upper soil were determined seasonally by in situ incubation using the buried-bag technique. There were no significant increases in soil NH[sub 4]-N during incubation, indicating that nitrification rates closely followed net N mineralization in all plots. In the N-poor soils of the harvested and uncut Douglas fir plots, nitrification was consistently <2 [mu]g N g[sup [minus]1] per 30 d. In the N-rich alder reference plot, nitrification was highest in summer (52 [mu]g N g[sup [minus]1] per 30 d), lowest in winter (4 [mu]g N g[sup [minus]1]), and intermediate in spring (20 [mu]g N g[sup [minus]1]). Seasonal fluctuations in nitrification diminished in the harvested alder plots. 52 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 5647847
- Journal Information:
- Soil Science Society of America Journal; (United States), Journal Name: Soil Science Society of America Journal; (United States) Vol. 56:4; ISSN 0361-5995; ISSN SSSJD4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
540200* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- (1990-)
553000 -- Agriculture & Food Technology
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CONIFERS
DISSOLUTION
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FIRS
FORESTRY
HARVESTING
LEACHING
NITRATES
NITRIFICATION
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN FIXATION
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PINOPHYTA
PLANTS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOILS
TREES
WOOD