Effects of Ant Mounds on Soil Chemistry and Vegetation Patterns in a Colorado Montane Meadow

Ecology ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 485-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Culver ◽  
Andrew J. Beattie
Keyword(s):  
Soil Chemistry ◽  
Vegetation Patterns ◽  
Montane Meadow ◽  
Ant Mounds

Influence of stemflow and throughfall from common oak (Quercusrobur) on soil chemistry and vegetation patterns

1991 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 917-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Soil Chemistry ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Calcium Content ◽  
Nutrient Addition ◽  
Vegetation Patterns ◽  
Nutrient Input ◽  
Swedish West Coast ◽  
Sea Bottom ◽  
High Base ◽  
Common Oak

Vernal herb vegetation patterns and soil chemistry beneath common oak (Quercusrobur L.) on a former sea bottom with occurrences of calcareous clay on the Swedish west coast were investigated in relation to nutrient addition from bark, stemflow, and throughfall. Nutrient input from bark litter played a negligible role in differentiating soil nutrient and vegetation gradients. Instead, nutrient addition via stemflow seemed to be the main reason for considerably higher pH and calcium content near the stems, and for an altered herb composition, mainly consisting of Mercurialisperennis L. and Hepaticanobilis Mill., in the stem zone of many oaks. The effects of stemflow were not observed around thin-stemmed oaks, nor around oaks growing on soils with high base saturation. This suggests that old, broad-stemmed oaks with deep root systems, reaching more fertile, calcium-rich layers, can redistribute calcium via stemflow, thereby strongly affecting originally nutrient-poor topsoil, and as a consequence, also can regulate the herb composition near the stem.

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