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Climate change

Forest Sciences

Iowa State University

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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Differential Effects Of Canopy Trimming And Litter Deposition On Litterfall And Nutrient Dynamics In A Wet Subtropical Forest, Steven J. Hall, Whendee L. Silver, Grizelle González Nov 2014

Differential Effects Of Canopy Trimming And Litter Deposition On Litterfall And Nutrient Dynamics In A Wet Subtropical Forest, Steven J. Hall, Whendee L. Silver, Grizelle González

Steven J. Hall

Humid tropical forests have the highest rates of litterfall production globally, which fuels rapid nutrient recycling and high net ecosystem production. Severe storm events significantly alter patterns in litterfall mass and nutrient dynamics through a combination of canopy disturbance and litter deposition. In this study, we used a large-scale long-term manipulation experiment to explore the separate and combined effects of canopy trimming and litter deposition on litterfall rates and litter nutrient concentrations and content. The deposition of fine litter associated with the treatments was equivalent to more than two times the annual fine litterfall mass and nutrient content in control …


A Buried Spruce Forest Provides Evidence At The Stand And Landscape Scale For The Effects Of Environment On Vegetation At The Pleistocene/Holocene Boundary, Douglas D. Stokke Feb 2000

A Buried Spruce Forest Provides Evidence At The Stand And Landscape Scale For The Effects Of Environment On Vegetation At The Pleistocene/Holocene Boundary, Douglas D. Stokke

Douglas D. Stokke

Due to a unique set of circumstances, we were able to excavate an entire spruce (Picea) forest in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, USA, which was buried in the early Holocene (9928 ± 133 uncalibrated 14C years bp). Trees ranged from < 5 cm to > 50 cm in diameter, and dominants were approximately 9 m tall. The stand was multi-aged, with a maximum tree age of 145 years. Well-preserved stem cross-sections (n = 140) were recovered and the entire stand was mapped. Stand reconstruction combined with pollen and sediment analysis revealed a pure spruce forest in the sandy lowlands surrounded by hills dominated by pine, oak …