Long- and Short-Term Changes in Nutrient Availability Following Commercial Sawlog Harvest via Cable Logging
Long- and Short-Term Changes in Nutrient Availability Following Commercial Sawlog Harvest via Cable Logging
This chapter examines changes in nutrient availability in Watershed 7 (WS 7) immediately following and for 22 years after harvest. Researchers measured several indices of nutrient availability and nutrient cycling rates including total soil C and N, soil extractable cations, extractable NO3 and NH4, net soil N transformations, soil solution NO3 concentrations, and nutrient fluxes in slash throughfall. Responses to cutting were measured against both pretreatment soil conditions and by comparison with data collected from an adjacent reference watershed. It is shown that changes of nutrient inputs, due to the input of logging residue, and changes in throughfall resulted in increased total C and N and extractable cation pools in surface soils. These increases were not long-lived, although slash residue remained on site. On the other hand, soil-extractable N and potential rates of N mineralization and nitrification remained elevated for more than 20 years after harvest. Changes in vegetation following harvesting have resulted in increased rates of N cycling. This continued rate of N cycling is evident not only in the soil N processes but also in continued stream export of NO3-N.
Keywords: soil nutrients, harvest, nutrient availability, nutrient cycling, clearcut watershed
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