Some factors limiting denitrification in slurries of acid forest soils

Denitrifying enzyme activity (DEA) is defined as N₂O production rate over the first eight hours of anaerobic incubation of soil slurries at 15°C with added nitrate and acetylene. Organic fraction explained 81 % of the spatial variation in DEA among soil horizons of beech (Fagus), alder (Alnus), and spruce (Picea) forests, and spruce ciearcuts. Nitrate and pH limit denitrification in anaerobic O horizons at 15°C. Thick, poorly drained O horizons, such as in alder forest, have a high capability for denitrification. Failure to recover all added nitrate in O horizon incubations suggested both production of unmeasured NO and dissimilatory reduction of nitrate to ammonium. In mineral horizons, N₂O production was small and could not be increased by increasing nitrate, carbon, pH, and phosphorus; some other factor appears to prevent significant denitrifier activity in acid forest mineral horizons.     

Partial cutting in mixedwood stands: Effects of treatment configuration and intensity on stand structure,regeneration, and tree mortality

In temperate and boreal mixedwood forests of eastern North America, partial disturbances such as insect outbreaks and gap dynamics result in the development of irregular forest structures. From a forest ecosystem management perspective, management of these forests should therefore include silvicultural regimes that incorporate medium- to high-retention harvesting. We present 12-year results of a field experiment undertaken to evaluate the effects of variable retention harvesting on stand structure, recruitment, and mortality. Treatments were gap harvesting (GAP), diameter-limit harvesting (DL), careful logging (CL), and careful logging followed by scarification (CL + SCAR), and an unharvested control. Although post-harvest basal area in the GAP treatment was significantly lower than that of controls, it maintained a diameter distribution profile and densities of balsam fir regeneration similar to those of pre-harvest conditions. Lower retention treatments (DL, CL, and CL + SCAR) tended to favor regeneration of pioneer, shade-intolerant species. Except for black spruce (for which mortality was highest in DL), stem mortality was similar among harvesting treatments. From an ecosystem management perspective, this study suggests that gap harvesting can maintain, in the short term, forest stand composition and structure similar to unharvested forests, and could be used where management objectives include the maintenance of late successional forest conditions.     

Clearcutting Brazilian caatinga: assessment of a traditional forest grazing management practice

Clearcutting is a common practice for removing woody vegetation in the semiarid tropics of northeast Brazil. The prevalent belief is that clearing increases carrying capacity for livestock by increasing herbaceous vegetation, yet little empirical evidence exists to support or refute the contention. We investigated the implications to small ruminant nutrition of clearcutting in the semiarid tropics of northeast Brazil. We found that biomass of herbaceous species increased sixfold following cutting of trees, but much of this increase was in the form of poorly palatable stem. The large supply of leaf litter from woody species that was typical of uncleared areas during the dry season was replaced by persistent green foliage on coppicing trees the year following clearing. This green foliage may enhance the nutritional quality of the diets of sheep and goats foraging on cleared areas during the dry season.     

Modeling the effects of forest harvesting on landscape structure and the spatial distribution of cowbird brood parasitism

Timber harvesting affects both composition and structure of the landscape and has important consequences for organisms using forest habitats. A timber harvest allocation model was constructed that allows the input of specific rules to allocate forest stands for clearcutting to generate landscape patterns reflecting the look and feel of managed landscapes. Various harvest strategies were simulated on four 237 km² study areas in Indiana, USA. For each study area, the model was applied to simulate 80 years of management activity. The resulting landscape spatial patterns were quantified using a suite of landscape pattern metrics and plotted as a function of mean harvest size and total area of forest harvested per decade to produce response surfaces. When the mean clearcut size was 1 ha, the area of forest interior remaining on the landscape was dramatically reduced and the amount of forest edge on the landscape increased dramatically. The potential consequences of the patterns produced by the model were assessed for a generalized neotropical migrant forest bird using a GIS model that generates maps showing the spatial distribution of the relative vulnerability of forest birds to brood parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds. The model incorporates the location and relative quality of cowbird feeding sites, and the relation between parasitism rates and distance of forest from edge. The response surface relating mean harvest size and total area harvested to the mean value of vulnerability to cowbird brood parasitism had a shape similar to the response surfaces showing forest edge. The results of our study suggest that it is more difficult to maintain large contiguous blocks of undisturbed forest interior when harvests are small and dispersed, especially when producing high timber volumes is a management goal. The application of the cowbird model to landscapes managed under different strategies could help managers in deciding where harvest activity will produce the least negative impact on breeding forest birds.     

滩地杨树人工林皆伐后蒸发散与产流变化

[目的]揭示杨树人工林皆伐对滩地蒸发散和产流的影响。[方法]基于涡度相关系统对长江滩地杨树人工林皆伐前后水汽通量连续3年(2010―2012年)的观测数据,通过对比皆伐前、后气候条件相似的2个时段(1整年)的蒸发散,揭示皆伐后研究区蒸发散的变化,并基于水量平衡反推研究区产流的变化。[结果]皆伐后土壤温度和水位上升,土壤表层含水量全年均值减小约0.03;研究区蒸发散皆伐前、后具有相似的日变化规律和季节动态特征,但皆伐后的全年蒸散量仅为皆伐前的66.3%;皆伐后研究区产流率(产流量/降雨量)从皆伐前的0.53上升至0.62;皆伐前、后7、8、12月的干旱指数(潜在蒸发散/降雨量)均大于1,其他时期均小于1。[结论]滩地杨树人工林皆伐后滩地蒸发散减少而产流率增加,加剧夏季干旱的可能性有所降低,但洪水爆发期间削减洪峰的能力也减弱。     

The impact of clearcutting and partial harvesting systems on population dynamics of soil nematodes in coastal Douglas-fir forests

Soil nematodes were used as bioindicators to compare possible differences in soil ecological conditions in Douglas-fir forests harvested by clearcutting and by two partialharvesting systems, namely shelterwood and extended rotation. An unlogged forest block was used as a control treatment. The pre- and post-harvest comparisons were based on total abundance of the nematodes, their trophic structure, and relative abundance of the nematode taxa found in the four blocks. The nematode and soil data were obtained bimonthly over a year. Pre-harvest nematode abundance and taxonomic composition were similar at the four blocks. Post-harvest data were obtained 6-7 months after the harvesting treatments were instituted. The post-harvest abundance at the three logged blocks was reduced to varying levels as compared to the control block, and analysis of variance showed that the severity of impact of the harvesting treatments on nematode abundance ranked as: clearcut shelterwood > extended rotation unlogged control. However, the taxonomic and trophic structures of the nematode community, which consisted of 48 taxa in these forests, were only slightly altered by any of the harvesting treatments as shown by maturity and diversity indices and by multivariate analysis.     

Patterns of nitrate loss from a chronosequence of clear-cut watersheds

Three clear-cuts at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (NH) have resulted in a chronosequence of forest watersheds in close proximity. Following clear-cutting, the stands, now 12, 21, 27, and 78 years old, have different species composition, nutrient capital, and biogeochemistry. In this study, we compared seasonal patterns of NO₃ ^– in streamwater, changes in N capital, and N retention in watersheds of differing stand age. All of the watersheds showed elevated losses of NO₃ ^–, H⁺ and nutrient cations (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, K⁺) during the first few years following clear-cutting. Increased retention of N occurred during vegetation regrowth compared to the reference watershed (W6). Nitrate concentrations were low during the summer growing season, increased in the late fall and peaked in March during spring snowmelt. Concentrations of NO₃ ^– were lower in the regrowing watersheds than in W6 during all months. In W6, there was considerable year-to-year variability in N retention, which was not initially observed in the manipulated watersheds. However, two cut watersheds exhibited higher export of NO₃ ^– in 1989 and 1990, corresponding to a 10-year high value in annual NO₃ ^– loss in W6. These results demonstrate the importance of land use and cutting history in assessments of N saturation and loss from forest watersheds.     

Marginal effects of silvicultural treatments on soil nutrients following harvest in a Chinese fir plantation

Despite the widespread recognition that silvicultural treatments (prescribed harvest residue burning, site preparation and replanting) applied following clearcutting may cause soil erosion and nutrient loss in Chinese fir ( Cunninghamia Lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook) plantations, it is unclear which specific treatment leads to nutrient loss and whether an appropriate implementation of the treatments during the dry season could avert nutrient loss altogether. To address these two questions, nutrient changes in Alliti-Udic Ferrosols soils within a Chinese fir plantation located in Huitong County, Hunan Province, were investigated through the analysis of soil samples sequentially collected at depths of 0–15 cm and 15–30 cm before and after harvest with the residue material kept in place, a prescribed residue burning operation, site preparation and tree replanting initiative took place. Individual treatments significantly affected the soil pH value, organic matter and C and available N at depths of 0–15 cm, but did not significantly influence soil bulk density, total N and P contents and available P contents. The soil pH value decreased with successive application of the treatments. Soil organic C increased by way of the remaining residue after clearcutting, but declined after prescribed residue burning and ultimately returned to pre-harvest values after site preparation as a result of soil displacement and burning ash. Available N contents decreased significantly after clearcutting and residue burning, but the reduction was more or less offset after site preparation took place. Results after all silvicultural treatments were applied showed that no significant reduction in soil organic matter, C and N and P occurred to date in the Chinese fir plantation studied, suggesting that nutrient loss could be averted if the treatments were implemented during the dry season.     

Watershed analysis of forest fragmentation by clearcuts and roads in a Wyoming forest

Remotely sensed data and a Geographic Information System were used to compare the effects of clearcutting and road-building on the landscape pattern of the Bighorn National Forest, in north-central Wyoming. Landscape patterns were quantified for each of 12 watersheds on a series of four maps that differed only in the degree of clearcutting and road density. We analyzed several landscape pattern metrics for the landscape as a whole and for the lodgepole pine and spruce/fir cover classes across these maps, and determined the relative effects of clearcutting and road building on the pattern of each watershed. At both the landscape- and cover class-scales, clearcutting and road building resulted in increased fragmentation as represented by a distinct suite of landscape structural changes. Patch core area and mean patch size decreased, and edge density and patch density increased as a result of clearcuts and roads. Clearcuts and roads simplified patch shapes at the landscape scale, but increased the complexity of lodgepole pine patches. Roads appeared to be a more significant agent of change than clearcuts, and roads which were more evenly distributed across a watershed had a greater effect on landscape pattern than did those which were densely clustered. Examining individual watersheds allows for the comparison of fragmentation among watersheds, as well as across the landscape as a whole. Similar studies of landscape structure in other National Forests and on other public lands may help to identify and prevent further fragmentation of these areas.     

皆伐前后油松人工林下植物多样性变化及与土壤水分的关系

【目的】探讨油松人工林皆伐前后林下植物多样性的变化及与土壤水分的关系,为在油松林皆伐后植被恢复和发育阶段维持生物多样性、保持林分结构稳定、发挥更高生态效益等方面提供科学依据和经营措施建议。【方法】采用时序研究法,在河北平泉地区选择立地一致的不同林龄油松人工林(32年中龄林、40年近熟林、53年成熟林)和皆伐后不同时间(5、10、24 a)的天然更新林作为研究对象,分析不同生长发育阶段油松人工林下植物物种组成与多样性的变化规律及与土壤水分间的相关性。【结果】1)皆伐前后6种林分样地共出现灌木植物21种,草本植物65种,不同样地林下植物组成存在差异。胡枝子在各林分样地均有出现,且重要值均> 20%,在灌木层优势地位明显;草本层中菊科植物种类最多,有18种,其次是蔷薇科和禾本科,分别为6种和4种。2)不同林分样地林下植物多样性指数均表现为草本层>灌木层,皆伐前随着林龄增加林下植物多样性逐渐增加;皆伐后灌木层植物多样性表现为先下降后增加再下降,且变化幅度明显,伐后10 a灌木层Margalef丰富度指数、Simpson多样性指数、Shannon-Wiener多样性指数和Pielou均匀度指数最大,分别为1.40、0.61、1.24和0.74,与53年样地差异不显著。皆伐后不同时间的天然更新林草本层植物多样性均与伐前53年样地的差异不显著,皆伐对灌木层植物的影响较大。3)不同林地土壤水分变化规律较一致,表现为伐前随林龄增加而逐渐增加,伐后5~10 a仍保持较高水平,伐后24 a出现下降,经相关分析植物多样性指数与土壤水分之间有显著的正相关关系,与草本层的相关性达极显著水平。【结论】伐前林下植物多样性变化主要与林分密度降低、光照条件改善有关,伐后主要与油松天然更新及种间竞争有关。依靠油松天然更新恢复的林地保持了较高的生物多样性,但在皆伐10 a后出现下降的趋势,建议在此时对油松更新苗进行人工抚育、降低密度以维持植物多样性。土壤水分是影响植物多样性的关键生态因子,良好的土壤水分条件和林下植被的恢复和发展可以相互促进。