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Forest Biology

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Land-use history

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Effects Of Experimental Nitrogen Additions On Plant Diversity In Tropical Forests Of Contrasting Disturbance Regimes In Southern China, Xiankai Lu, Jiangming Mo, Frank S. Gilliam, Guirui Yu, Wei Zhang, Yunting Fang, Juan Huang Oct 2011

Effects Of Experimental Nitrogen Additions On Plant Diversity In Tropical Forests Of Contrasting Disturbance Regimes In Southern China, Xiankai Lu, Jiangming Mo, Frank S. Gilliam, Guirui Yu, Wei Zhang, Yunting Fang, Juan Huang

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Responses of understory plant diversity to nitrogen (N) additions were investigated in reforested forests of contrasting disturbance regimes in southern China from 2003 to 2008: disturbed forest (withharvesting of understory vegetation and litter) and rehabilitated forest (without harvesting). Experimental additions of N were administered as the following treatments: Control, 50 kg N ha1yr1, and 100kg N ha1yr1. Nitrogen additions did not significantly affect understory plant richness, density,and cover in the disturbed forest. Similarly, no significant response was found for canopy closure in thisforest. In the rehabilitated forest, species richness and density showed no significant response to Nadditions; however, understory cover …


Nitrogen Addition Shapes Soil Phosphorus Availability In Two Reforested Tropical Forests In Southern China, Xiankai Lu, Jiangming Mo, Frank S. Gilliam, Hua Fang, Feifei Zhu, Yunting Fang, Wei Zhang, Juan Huang Jan 2011

Nitrogen Addition Shapes Soil Phosphorus Availability In Two Reforested Tropical Forests In Southern China, Xiankai Lu, Jiangming Mo, Frank S. Gilliam, Hua Fang, Feifei Zhu, Yunting Fang, Wei Zhang, Juan Huang

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Scant information is available on how soil phosphorus (P) availability responds to atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, especially in the tropical zones. This study examined the effect of N addition on soil P availability, and compared this effect between forest sites of contrasting land-use history. Effects of N addition on soil properties, litterfall production, P release from decomposing litter, and soil P availability were studied in a disturbed (reforested pine forest with previous understory vegetation and litter harvesting) and a rehabilitated (reforested mixed pine/broadleaf forest with no understory vegetation and litter harvesting) tropical forest in southern China. Experimental N-treatments (above ambient) …