forester Articles
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Relationships between ericaceous vegetation and soil nutrient status in a post-fire Kalmia angustifolia-black spruce chronosequence
Abstract Post-fire nutrient flushes are an important precursor to secondary succession in fire-driven boreal forest. We studied the magnitude of changes in post-fire soil nutrient status across a chronosequence of ericaceous shrub-dominated boreal forest stands in eastern Newfoundland, Canada. The chronosequence comprised nine stands burned between 1 and 38 years prior to the study. These ...
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Shifts in plant nutrient use strategies under secondary forest succession
Abstract In evergreen broad-leaved forests (EBLFs) in Tiantong National Forest Park, Eastern China, we studied the soil chemistry and plant leaf nutrient concentration along a chronosequence of secondary forest succession. Soil total N, P and leaf N, P concentration of the most abundant plant species increased with forest succession. We further examined leaf lifespan, leaf nutrient ...
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Recreating a functioning forest soil in reclaimed oil sands in Northern Alberta: an approach for measuring success in ecological restoration
During oil-sands mining all vegetation, soil, overburden, and oil sand is removed, leaving pits several kilometers wide and up to 100 m deep. These pits are reclaimed through a variety of treatments using subsoil or a mixed peat-mineral soil cap. Using nonmetric multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis of measurements of ecosystem function, reclamation treatments of several age classes were ...
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Productivity of ephemeral headwater riparian forests impacted by sedimentation in the southeastern United States coastal plain
Received for publication April 30, 2008. Riparian forests serve an essential function in improving water quality through the filtering of sediments and nutrients from surface runoff. However, little is known about the impact of sediment deposition on productivity of riparian forests. Sediment inputs may act as a subsidy to forest productivity by providing additional nutrients for plant uptake or ...
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Estimating forest soil Carbon and Nitrogen stocks with double sampling for stratification
Precise and accurate estimation of C and N in forest soils is important for monitoring long-term site productivity and C stock changes. Obtaining such estimates remains a major challenge, however, especially because of high natural variability in the forest floor. Although most researchers have used simple random sampling (SRS) for within-plot soil sampling, double sampling for stratification ...
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Nutrient sorption dynamics of resin membranes and resin bags in a tropical forest
Plant root simulator (PRS) probes, a resin membrane technology, are increasingly used to measure soil nutrient availability in agricultural and nonagricultural systems. Like other resin technologies, the charged surface is meant to sorb nutrients until saturation; however, there is evidence that it acts as a dynamic exchanger in soils with low nutrient availability. This study compared the ...
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Rajang Delta threatened by floods
This paper presents a case study of the Rajang Delta in Sarawak, Malaysia where peatland subsidence will cause flooding, rendering more than half of the Rajang Delta unsuitable for any agriculture cultivation due to severe floods in 50 years. The land area which will be inundated is 3 times the size of Singapore!! What a great loss! Case study summary: The case study reveals that about 87% of ...
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Effect of charcoal quantity on microbial biomass and activity in temperate soils
Wildfire-produced charcoal is a common component of soils, affecting a range of important abiotic and biotic soil processes. Our ability to predict the effects of charcoal addition to soil is currently limited, however, by our understanding of how charcoal affects the soil microbial community mediating many of these processes. This study sought to improve our understanding of the relationship ...
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Climate and Economic Benefits of Agroforestry Systems
Introduction Agriculture is well known as a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, but emerging practices in land management have the potential to curtail these emissions and reverse much of the ecological and climate harm caused by overly intensive systems. One such practice, cultivation and conservation of trees in agricultural practices, or agroforestry, is an important ...
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Seeing Green: Saving Forests or Food Prices?
A growing population and rapid development will put a strain on land used to grow food over the next century. But if reforestation is used to avoid climate change it will create further strain, says a new MIT study. Written by Vicki Ekstrom.You can read the original new in MIT NewsIt’s no surprise that the United States and China are the world’s top greenhouse-gas emitters. What may be ...
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Impacts of fertilization on water quality of a drained pine plantation: a worst case scenario
Received for publication December 8, 2008. Intensive plantation forestry will be increasingly important in the next 50 yr to meet the high demand for domestic wood in the United States. However, forest management practices can substantially influence downstream water quality and ecology. This study analyses, the effect of fertilization on effluent water quality of a low gradient drained coastal ...
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Introducing the technique of composting in a rural municipality in Chile
Waste management in Chile Until a few years ago there had been a lack in the supply of basic infrastructure needs like the supply of drinking water, sewage systems, electricity and communication in a lot of rural areas in Chile. With the advancing economic development further necessities have arisen. New objectives are the extended development of infrastructure, the conservation of natural ...
By ORBIT e.V.
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Chicago Council lists three-decade changes in greenhouse gases and average temperature
In 2011, we wrote a column, “Global warming is happening: How should farmers respond?” (http://agpolicy.org/weekcol/549.html). In that column we began by saying, “There was a time when one could legitimately argue that there was a lack of scientific agreement over the issue of the role of humans in global warming and even whether we were in a cooling or warming period. It is ...
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Influence of environment on plants
There is no denying the importance of light for the growth of plants; however, there are many other environmental factors—such as temperature, moisture and nutrient availability, and soil type–that also influence plant growth. These factors do not act in isolation and are, many times, correlated. So, it is interesting to see how light works in combination with other resources to ...
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Regenerative agriculture and climate change
The term “regenerative agriculture” is gaining prominence in climate-related conversations. It dates back to the 1980s when Robert Rodale coined the term, “regenerative organic agriculture” as way to express that organic should be more than simply avoiding chemical inputs. The term has been defined and re-defined by many different authors, sometimes describing very ...
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Leaf Area - How & Why Measuring Leaf Area is Vital to Plant Research
What is Leaf Area? It is easy to measure leaves, and they are also the parts of a plant most responsive to their environment. The combination of these two factors makes leaf area measurement extremely useful to scientists and growers. Besides, leaves are one of the main plant organs and are responsible for the productivity of a plant, and on a larger scale, of an ecosystem or a farm. Therefore, ...
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