Revegetation and nitrate leaching from lake states northern hardwood forests following harvest

• Published in: Soil Science Society of America journal Vol. 63; no. 5; pp. 1424 - 1429
• Main Authors: Iseman, T.M, Zak, D.R, Holmes, W.E, Merrill, A.G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Madison Soil Science Society 01-09-1999; Soil Science Society of America; American Society of Agronomy
• Subjects: Acer saccharum; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biological and medical sciences; clearcutting; Deforestation; Ecosystems; Forestry; Forests; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General forest ecology; Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology; land restoration; Leaching; logging effects; losses from soil; mixed forests; Nitrates; Quercus rubra; residual effects; Revegetation; Soils; Synecology; Terrestrial ecosystems; Tilia americana; Michigan; LAKE STATES (USA); United States; North America; America; Forests; Forest regeneration; Quercus rubra; Nitrates; Forest soil; Biomass; Inorganic element; Temperate zone; Aceraceae; Clearcutting; Acer saccharum; Dicotyledones; Ecosystem; Angiospermae; Hardwood forest tree; Nitrogen Compounds; Anthropogenic factor; Tilia americana; Underground leaching; Substance loss; BROADLEAVED FORESTS; Vegetation dynamics; Forest logging; Fagaceae; Biogeochemistry; Nitrogen cycle; Chemical transport; Regional study; Tiliaceae; Forestry; Nitrification; Above ground plant part; Spermatophyta
• ISSN: 0361-5995; 1435-0661
• DOI: 10.2136/sssaj1999.6351424x

The sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall)-red oak (Quercus rubra L.) and sugar maple-basswood (Tilia americana L.) ecosystems are Lake States forests that differ in net nitrification (5 and 15 g N m(-2) yr(-1), respectively), but experience equivalent rates of NO(3)- leaching following clear-cut harvest (approximately equal to 5 g N m(-2) yr(-1)). Our objectives were to determine whether high rates of N leaching are sustained following harvest and whether ecosystem-specific patterns of biomass accumulation influence NO(3)- loss. We studied two stands in each ecosystem and established four research plots in each stand; two plots were clear-cut in 1991 and two were controls. In 1996, we measured soil solution NO(3)- concentration (1-m depth) and calculated areal losses by a water balance method. We used allometric equations to estimate woody biomass in clearcut plots; herbaceous biomass was clipped. In the sugar maple-red oak ecosystem, NO(3)- leaching from 5-yr-old clear-cut plots (0.56 g N m(-2) yr(-1)) was significantly greater than leaching from control plots (0.05 g N m(-2) yr(-1)). In contrast, NO(3)- leaching did not differ between control (0.41 g N m(-2) yr(-1)) and 5-yr-old clear-cut (0.02 g N m(-2) yr(-1)) in the sugar maple-basswood ecosystem; however, loss from these clear-cut plots was significantly lower than that from clear-cut sugar maple-red oak plots. Five years after harvest, 7.1 Mg ha(-1) of aboveground biomass accumulated in clear-cut sugar maple-basswood plots, almost twice that of clear-cut sugar maple-red oak plots (3.9 Mg ha(-1)). Five years after harvest, the highest rates of NO(3)-loss occurred in the sugar maple-red oak ecosystem, in which aboveground biomass accumulation was least.