Small root exclusion collars provide reasonable estimates of root respiration when measured during the growing season of installation

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (9) ◽  
pp. 2112-2117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason G Vogel ◽  
David W Valentine
Keyword(s):  
Forest Floor ◽  
Root Respiration ◽  
Microbial Respiration ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Tree Density ◽  
Soil Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Small Root ◽  
Root Exclusion ◽  
Installation Time

A common method to determine in situ root respiration is to insert root exclusions to sever roots and then to measure soil carbon dioxide (CO2) efflux in and outside the exclusion. We report the use of relatively small root exclusions (15.2 cm diameter plastic pipe) (SREs), installed and measured within a growing season. We switched from long-used, large root exclusions (2.5 m × 3 m) (LREs) for three reasons. First, temperature artifacts were apparent in LREs, likely because increased soil moisture altered soil thermal balance. Second, LREs in dense stands required a relatively low tree density, which then impacted snowpack depth and insolation. Third, the LREs were much more time-consuming to install than SREs. Using a powered mechanical trencher (ditch witch®) decreased LRE installation time, but introduced a large edge-effect apparent in soil profile pCO2 that would obviate trenched plots smaller than 1600 cm2. However, when trenches were dug by hand, the distance from the LRE wall had no effect on soil pCO2. In a subsequent experiment, SREs were installed by cleanly cutting the forest floor, and then immediately measured. Within 1-3 weeks the SREs provided similar root respiration estimates to those made with LREs that had been in place for nearly 10 months. SREs placed in and outside LREs provided indistinguishable microbial respiration values from one another and to the LREs. We conclude SREs provide root respiration estimates indistinguishable from other methods, even when installed and measured within the same growing season.

Distillation in a boreal mossy forest floor

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 663-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
T J Carleton ◽  
K M.M Dunham
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Forest Floor ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Mass Gain ◽  
Dew Point ◽  
Organic Layers ◽  
Dry Down ◽  
Microclimate Monitoring ◽  
Capillary Wicking

The feathermoss-dominated floor of coniferous boreal forests can experience midsummer drought. From ecophysiological studies, based on single shoots, it is unclear how the live moss carpet can survive such stress. External capillary wicking from the lowest, moist organic layers is one possibility. Another is evaporation from the same source followed by condensation on the upper, live moss shoots (distillation). A laboratory wicking experiment showed that, under ideal conditions, much of the organic forest floor profile can be supplied with moisture by capillarity from below. However, the uppermost live moss shoots could not be hydrated by this mechanism. In contrast, a gravimetric field experiment indicated nocturnal mass gain by turves of live moss shoots, placed in situ on the forest floor, during dry-down conditions. For turf treatments with an underlying vapour barrier, no such mass gain was evident. Turf treatments with a vapour barrier on top were little different from controls. It is concluded that nocturnal distillation occurs during all summer dry-downs and that this is likely to ensure moss shoot survival during diurnal periods of drought stress. Limited microclimate monitoring indicated that nocturnal cooling at the forest floor surface was sufficient to bring the moss shoot surfaces to the dew point and to reverse the daytime temperature gradient through the organic forest floor profile. This appears to be most noticeable late in the growing season when the lowermost organic layers have progressively warmed throughout the summer.

Early growth of lodgepole pine after establishment of alsike clover–Rhizobium nitrogen-fixing symbiosis

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1089-1093 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Trowbridge ◽  
F.B. Holl
Keyword(s):  
Forest Floor ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Nitrogen Concentration ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Early Growth ◽  
Percent Cover ◽  
Foliar Nitrogen ◽  
Growing Seasons ◽  
Pine Seedlings ◽  
Needle Mass

An overdense lodgepole pine (Pinuscontorta Dougl. ex Loud.) stand was knocked down and the site was prepared by broadcast burn, windrow burn, or mechanical forest floor removal. Inoculated alsike clover (Trifoliumhybridum L.) was seeded at 0, 10, 20, and 30 kg/ha for the three different site preparation treatments to determine the effects of (i) site preparation on infection and effectiveness of the clover–Rhizobium symbiosis and clover percent cover and (ii) the clover–Rhizobium N2-fixing symbiosis on survival, early growth, and foliar nitrogen concentration of lodgepole pine seedlings. The N2-fixing symbiosis established well in all treatments. Clover percent cover increased with increasing rate of seeding, although by relatively few percent in the clover seeded plots. Broadcast burning, windrow burning, and mechanical forest floor removal did not affect the establishment of the N2-fixing symbiosis or clover percent cover. Lodgepole pine survival was not affected by the seeding treatments in any year, nor were height measurements during the first three growing seasons. Seedling height was slightly less in clover-seeded plots compared with controls in the fourth growing season. Lodgepole pine seedlings on clover-seeded plots had decreased diameter growth compared with controls during the first three growing seasons, but incremental diameter growth no longer showed this effect by the fourth growing season. Needle mass (g/100 needles) was less in clover-seeded plots at the end of the second growing season, but this effect was reversed by the fourth growing season, when both needle mass and foliar nitrogen concentration in lodgepole pine foliage were greater in clover-seeded plots.

EFFECTS OF GROWING SEASON SOIL TEMPERATURE, MOISTURE, AND NH4-N ON SOIL NITROGEN

1974 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. CAMPBELL ◽  
D. W. STEWART ◽  
W. NICHOLAICHUK ◽  
V. O. BIEDERBECK
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Relationship ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Stepwise Multiple Regression ◽  
Soil N ◽  
N Transformations ◽  
Temperature Changes ◽  
Diurnal Patterns ◽  
Multiple Regression Technique ◽  
Time Required

Wood Mountain loam was wetted with water or (NH4)2SO4 solution to provide a factorial combination among three moisture and three NH4-N levels. Samples in polyethylene bags were incubated at 2.5-cm depths in fallow, and in an incubator that simulated the diurnal patterns of temperature fluctuation recorded in the field. During the growing season, treatments were sampled regularly for moisture, NO3− and exchangeable NH4-N. Similar determinations were made on in situ samples taken in fallow Wood Mountain loam. The incubator simulated the effects of growing season temperatures on soil N transformations satisfactorily. Pronounced increases or decreases in temperature led to flushes in N mineralization. However, in the 1972 growing season, temperature was suboptimal and temperature changes were generally small. Consequently, when a stepwise multiple regression technique was used to analyze the data, neither ammonification nor nitrification showed a quantitative relationship to temperature. Comparison of the nitrification occurring in laboratory-incubated soils with that occurring in situ led to the conclusion that 70 to 90% of the NO3-N produced in surface soil resulted from wetting and drying. Estimates of potentially ammonifiable soil N(No) and its rate of mineralization (k) were derived from cumulative ammonification by assuming that the laws of first-order kinetics were applicable. In the 10, 15, and 20% moisture treatments the average No was 27, 41, and 82 ppm, respectively. Under the conditions of this study, the time required to mineralize half of No was about 7 wk.

scholarly journals Microbial Substrate Utilization and Vegetation Shifts in Boreal Forest Floors of Western Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Lloret ◽  
Sylvie Quideau
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Forest Floor ◽  
Microbial Respiration ◽  
Substrate Utilization ◽  
Utilization Efficiency ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Spruce Forest ◽  
Vegetation Shifts ◽  
Forest Floors

Boreal forest soils are highly susceptible to global warming, and in the next few decades, are expected to face large increases in temperature and transformative vegetation shifts. The entire boreal biome will migrate northward, and within the main boreal forest of Western Canada, deciduous trees will replace conifers. The main objective of our research was to assess how these vegetation shifts will affect functioning of soil microbial communities and ultimately the overall persistence of boreal soil carbon. In this study, aspen and spruce forest floors from the boreal mixedwood forest of Alberta were incubated in the laboratory for 67 days without (control) and with the addition of three distinct 13C labeled substrates (glucose, aspen leaves, and aspen roots). Our first objective was to compare aspen and spruce substrate utilization efficiency (SUE) in the case of a labile C source (13C-glucose). For our second objective, addition of aspen litter to spruce forest floor mimicked future vegetation shifts, and we tested how this would alter substrate use efficiency in the spruce forest floor compared to the aspen. Tracking of carbon utilization by microbial communities was accomplished using 13C-PLFA analysis, and 13C-CO2 measurements allowed quantification of the relative contribution of each added substrate to microbial respiration. Following glucose addition, the aspen community showed a greater 13C-PLFA enrichment than the spruce throughout the 67-day incubation. The spruce community respired a greater amount of 13C glucose, and it also had a much lower glucose utilization efficiency compared to the aspen. Following addition of aspen litter, in particular aspen leaves, the aspen community originally showed greater total 13C-PLFA enrichment, although gram positive phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) were significantly more enriched in the spruce community. While the spruce community respired a greater amount of the added 13C-leaves, both forest floor types showed comparable substrate utilization efficiencies by Day 67. These results indicate that a shift from spruce to aspen may lead to a greater loss of the aspen litter through microbial respiration, but that incorporation into microbial biomass and eventually into the more persistent soil carbon pool may not be affected.

Diurnal gross photosynthetic patterns and potential seasonal CO2 assimilation in Cladonia stellaris and Cladonia rangiferina

1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 642-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Moser ◽  
Thomas H. Nash III ◽  
Steven O. Link
Keyword(s):  
Photosynthetic Activity ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Early Morning ◽  
Co2 Assimilation ◽  
Atmospheric Moisture ◽  
Growing Seasons ◽  
Late Evening ◽  
Summer Rain ◽  
Cladonia Rangiferina

The daily, in situ gross photosynthetic patterns of Cladonia stellaris (Opiz.) Pouz. & Vězda. and Cladonia rangiferina (L.) Wigg. were monitored during portions of the 1977, 1978, and 1979 growing seasons at Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska. Photosynthetic activity in both species closely paralleled atmospheric moisture status, where peak photosynthetic rates were attained during or following sporadic summer rain. In addition, thallus absorption of moisture during extended periods of high atmospheric water vapor content gave rise to short periods of minimal photosynthetic activity. During late evening and early morning hours moistened thalli exhibited minimal or no photosynthetic activity, coinciding with consistent attenuation in solar radiation during these periods. Photosynthetic activity was not homogeneous throughout the thallus. The greatest activity occurred in the apical regions and decreased progressively into the basal regions. The apical 10-mm regions of C. stellaris and C. rangiferina thalli accounted for approximately 50% of their photosynthetic capabilities. The potential gross CO2 assimilation of the apical 10-mm regions over 72 days of the 1978 growing season was estimated at approximately 35 g CO2∙m−2 and 16 g CO2∙m−2 for C. stellaris and C. rangiferina, respectively.

scholarly journals In Situ Observations Reveal How Spectral Reflectance Responds to Growing Season Phenology of an Open Evergreen Forest in Alaska

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1071 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideki Kobayashi ◽  
Shin Nagai ◽  
Yongwon Kim ◽  
Wei Yang ◽  
Kyoko Ikeda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Reflectance ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Evergreen Forest ◽  
In Situ Observations
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