Paul A. Klockow, Anthony W. D'Amato, John B. Bradford, Shawn Fraver. (2014). Nutrient concentrations in coarse and fine woody debris of Populus tremuloides Michx.-dominated forests, northern Minnesota, USA. Silva Fennica vol. 48 no. 1 article id 962. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.962

Keywords: coarse woody debris; fine woody debris; Populus tremuloides; nutrient concentrations; bioenergy feedstock harvesting; Great Lakes

Highlights: We examine effects of size, species, and decay on woody debris nutrient concentrations; Results indicate wide variation in nutrient concentrations across the factors examined; Fine woody debris nutrient concentrations were greater than in coarse woody debris; Coarse woody debris nutrient concentrations generally increased as decay progressed; Results suggest high fine woody debris stocks can represent an important nutrient source.

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Contemporary forest harvesting practices, specifically harvesting woody biomass as a source of bioenergy feedstock, may remove more woody debris from a site than conventional harvesting. Woody debris, particularly smaller diameter woody debris, plays a key role in maintaining ecosystem nutrient stores following disturbance. Understanding nutrient concentrations within woody debris is necessary for assessing the long-term nutrient balance consequences of altered woody debris retention, particularly in forests slated for use as bioenergy feedstocks. Nutrient concentrations in downed woody debris of various sizes, decay classes, and species were characterized within one such forest type, Populus tremuloides Michx.-dominated forests of northern Minnesota, USA. Nutrient concentrations differed significantly between size and decay classes and generally increased as decay progressed. Fine woody debris (≤ 7.5 cm diameter) had higher nutrient concentrations than coarse woody debris (> 7.5 cm diameter) for all nutrients examined except Na and Mn, and nutrient concentrations varied among species. Concentrations of N, Mn, Al, Fe, and Zn in coarse woody debris increased between one and three orders of magnitude, while K decreased by an order of magnitude with progressing decay. The variations in nutrient concentrations observed here underscore the complexity of woody debris nutrient stores in forested ecosystems and suggest that retaining fine woody debris at harvest may provide a potentially important source of nutrients following intensive removals of bioenergy feedstocks.

Klockow, Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA E-mail: klock039@umn.edu
D'Amato, Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA E-mail: damato@umn.edu
Bradford, US Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA E-mail: jbradford@usgs.gov
Fraver, School of Forest Resources, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA E-mail: shawn.fraver@maine.edu

article id 80, category Research article

Mari T. Jönsson, Shawn Fraver, Bengt Gunnar Jonsson. (2011). Spatio-temporal variation of coarse woody debris input in woodland key habitats in central Sweden. Silva Fennica vol. 45 no. 5 article id 80. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.80

Keywords: boreal forest; Picea abies; dendrochronology; disturbance dynamics; tree mortality; woodland key habitats; windstorms

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The persistence of many saproxylic (wood-living) species depends on a readily available supply of coarse woody debris (CWD). Most studies of CWD inputs address stand-level patterns, despite the fact that many saproxylic species depend on landscape-level supplies of CWD. In the present study we used dated CWD inputs (tree mortality events) at each of 14 Norway spruce (Picea abies) dominated woodland key habitat sites to analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of CWD additions between 1950 and 2002 within a small landscape in central Sweden. We found that inputs were episodic within sites, where local windstorms created pulses in CWD input. Pulses occurred simultaneously in many sites, yielding landscape-level synchrony of CWD input. These synchronous pulses, and importantly, the breaks between pulses, may have negative implications for saproxylic species that are dependent on large volume inputs of freshly killed Norway spruce. In addition, the inherent small size and relative isolation of these sites may further increase extinction risks due to stochastic events. However, background CWD input rates occurring between pulses varied substantially among sites, presumably the result of the sites’ varied histories and structural characteristics. This finding suggests that the different sites have varied abilities to provide habitat for saproxylic species during periods with low landscape-level input of CWD.

Jönsson, Department of Ecology, SLU, P.O. Box 7044, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden (current); Department of Natural Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden E-mail: mari.jonsson@slu.se
Fraver, U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Grand Rapids, Minnesota, USA (current); Department of Natural Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden E-mail: sf@nn.us
Jonsson, Department of Natural Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden E-mail: bgj@nn.se

article id 112, category Research article

Mike R. Saunders, Shawn Fraver, Robert G. Wagner. (2011). Nutrient concentration of down woody debris in mixedwood forests in central Maine, USA. Silva Fennica vol. 45 no. 2 article id 112. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.112

Keywords: Acadian Forest; hardwoods; softwoods; carbon-nitrogen ratios; decay classes; disturbance-based silviculture

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Both nutrient concentrations and pre- and post-harvest pool sizes were determined across down woody debris decay classes of several hardwood and softwood species in a long-term, natural disturbance based, silvicultural experiment in central Maine. Concentrations of N, P, Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe, and Zn generally increased 2- to 5-fold with increasing decay class. Concentrations of Mn, Al and B did not differ among decay classes, while K decreased by 20–44% from decay class 1 to class 4. C:N-ratios declined with increasing decay class, while N:P-ratios increased from decay class 1 to 2 and then plateaued with further decay. Within decay classes, softwoods generally had lower nutrient concentrations and higher C:N-ratios than hardwoods; N:P-ratios did not differ between hardwoods and softwoods. Although gap harvesting increased the size of the overall down woody debris nutrient pools, mostly through a large pulse of decay class 1 material, harvesting generally reduced the nutrients held in advanced decay classes. Pre-harvest down woody debris pools for N, P, K and Ca were 11.0, 0.6, 2.1 and 21.1 kg ha^–1, respectively, while postharvest were 20.0, 1.3, 6.2 and 46.2 kg ha^–1, respectively. While the gap-based silvicultural systems sampled in this study doubled the size of the pre-harvest, downed woody debris nutrient pools, the post-harvest pools were estimated to be only 3.2–9.1% of aboveground nutrients.

Saunders, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, 715 State Street, West Lafayette, IN, USA E-mail: msaunder@purdue.edu
Fraver, USFS Northern Research Station, Grand Rapids, MN, USA E-mail: sf@nn.us
Wagner, School of Forest Resources, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA E-mail: rgw@nn.us

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