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Forest Sciences

West Virginia University

Theses/Dissertations

Forest soils

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Soil Response Of Helicopter Liming In The Monongahela National Forest, Jarrett Douglas Fowler Jan 2021

Soil Response Of Helicopter Liming In The Monongahela National Forest, Jarrett Douglas Fowler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Soils in the Monongahela National Forest (MNF) are acidic due to sandstone parent material, acid deposition, uptake of base cations by vegetation, and release of organic acids by organic matter (OM) decomposition. Increases in soil acidity have caused declines in forest health and changed species composition and nutrient status. Liming can neutralize soil acidity, but no large-scale liming projects have been done on acid forest soils in the USA. In anticipation of acquiring funding for a proposed liming project in the MNF, in 2007 and 2009 10 sites were selected to sample and analyze soils before lime was applied. In …


Stable Aggregate Dynamics And Carbon Storage In Acidified Forest Soils: Influence Of Atmospheric Deposition And Conifer Conversion At The Fernow Experimental Forest, J E. Kemner Jan 2020

Stable Aggregate Dynamics And Carbon Storage In Acidified Forest Soils: Influence Of Atmospheric Deposition And Conifer Conversion At The Fernow Experimental Forest, J E. Kemner

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This research explored effects of ecosystem change from increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition and stand conversion from mixed-species hardwood to Norway spruce in three experimental watersheds at the Fernow Experimental Forest (FEF). I measured soil aggregation and organic matter (OM) content to investigate the influence of forest fertilization in Watershed 3 (WS3), a hardwood forest receiving (NH4)2SO4 fertilizer, versus Watershed 7 (WS7), a natural hardwood forest. I compared WS7 to Watershed 6 (WS6), a converted Norway spruce (Picea abies) monoculture. I quantified WS6 and WS7 C and N ecosystem pools, including vegetation biomass, …