Accumulation of Organic Matter and Soil Nitrogen Beneath A Plantation of Red Alder and Douglas‐Fir

Tarrant, Robert F.; Miller, R Eric

doi:10.2136/sssaj1963.03615995002700020041x

Cited by 81 publications

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“…Tree species differ in biomass production and tissue nutrient concentrations and in their effects on soil properties such as pH, nutrient cycling, and soil biota (Binkley 1996;Binkley and Giardina 1998). All comparisons of N-fixers and non-N-fixers have found 20%-100% more soil C under N-fixers (Johnson 1992;Cole and others 1995;Rhoades and others 1998); this would equate to 0.05-0.12 kg m Ϫ2 y Ϫ1 greater soil C accumulation under N-fixer forests than under comparable non-N-fixer forests (Tarrant and Miller 1963;Binkley and others 1982;Binkley 1983;Binkley and Sollins 1990;Cole and others 1995;Rhoades and others 1998;Kaye and others 2000). Despite the very consistent and large effect of N-fixing trees on the storage of soil C, the fundamental processes that yield the higher C storage remain unexplained; we do not even know if the higher C storage derives from greater C inputs or reduced C outputs.…”

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confidence: 97%

Greater Soil Carbon Sequestration under Nitrogen-fixing Trees Compared with Eucalyptus Species

2002

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Forests with nitrogen-fixing trees (N-fixers) typically accumulate more carbon (C) in soils than similar forests without N-fixing trees. This difference may develop from fundamentally different processes, with either greater accumulation of recently fixed C or reduced decomposition of older soil C. We compared the soil C pools under N-fixers with Eucalyptus (non-N-fixers) at four tropical sites: two sites on Andisol soils in Hawaii and two sites on Vertisol and Entisol soils in Puerto Rico. Using stable carbon isotope techniques, we tracked the loss of the old soil organic C from the previous C 4 land use (SOC 4 ) and the gain of new soil organic C from the C 3 , N-fixer, and non-N-fixer plantations (SOC 3 ). Soils beneath N-fixing trees sequestered 0.11 Ϯ 0.07 kg m Ϫ2 y Ϫ1 (mean Ϯ one standard error) of total soil organic carbon (SOC T ) compared with no change under Eucalyptus (0.00 Ϯ 0.07 kg m Ϫ2 y Ϫ1 ; P ϭ 0.02). About 55% of the greater SOC T sequestration under the N-fixers resulted from greater retention of old SOC 4 , and 45% resulted from greater accretion of new SOC 3 . Soil N accretion under the N-fixers explained 62% of the variability of the greater retention of old SOC 4 under the N-fixers. The greater retention of older soil C under N-fixing trees is a novel finding and may be important for strategies that use reforestation or afforestation to offset C emissions.

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confidence: 97%

Greater Soil Carbon Sequestration under Nitrogen-fixing Trees Compared with Eucalyptus Species

2002

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“…This large complement of planted alder explained the 30 or more percent N-increase (ca. 1,000 lb N/acre) in the duff and soil in the mixed stand compared to adjacent pure stands about 30 years after planting (Tarrant and Miller 1963). Not only were benefits of improved N-status likely to be greater at that Cascade site than our coastal Oregon site, but competitive effects of alder in the mixed stand at the Cascades site were minimized because alder was interplanted 4 years after the Douglas-fir were planted.…”

Section: Effect Of Fertilizingmentioning

confidence: 86%

Comparative effects of precommercial thinning, urea fertilizer, and red alder in a site II, coast Douglas-fir plantation.

Miller¹,

Obermeyer²,

Anderson³

1999

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We varied the number of red alder retained with 300 Douglas-fir per acre on a highquality site in coastal Oregon. Alder densities of 0, 20, 40, and 80 per acre were tested. Our fifth treatment eliminated nitrogen-fixing alder, but substituted nitrogen fertilizer. Treatment 6 had neither thinning nor alder control. Treatments were randomly assigned within each of three blocks in a 9-year-old plantation. Stand density was reduced within 15 of these 18 experimental units. Surplus conifers were cut, but surplus red alder were controlled by the "hack-and-squirt" method. Because numerous trees of other species regenerated naturally, combined density of all species before thinning ranged from 1,400 to 5,700 trees per acre. Subsequent 17-year change in number, average height, basal area, and volume of Douglas-fir were compared. Retaining 20, 40, or 80 alder per acre reduced numbers of associated Douglas-fir by about 10, 17, and 23 percent, respectively. In pure Douglas-fir plots, gross volume growth was similar for nonfertilized and fertilized plots, indicating no measurable benefits of additional nitrogen. In mixed stands, red alder reduced yield of associated Douglas-fir, but not yield of combined species. Similar comparisons are needed at other locations, especially those with known nitrogen deficiency.Keywords: Mixed stands, competition (plant), Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii, red alder, Alnus rubra, thinning, nitrogen fertilization, volume growth.In a site II, Douglas-fir plantation near the central Oregon coast, we compared 17-year survival and growth of Douglas-fir and other species in three replicates of six silvicultural regimes imposed 9 years after planting. Our purpose was to quantify effects of these regimes on growth and yield of Douglas-fir, red alder, and the two species combined. In five of the six regimes, conifer density was reduced to 300 trees per acre (TPA); nearly all were planted Douglas-fir. Regimes 1 to 4 tested the effects of admixing 0, 20, 40, or 80 red alder per acre, respectively. Regime 5 retained 300 Douglas-fir, but no alder, and substituted 200 lb nitrogen (N) per acre as urea fertilizer for N biologically fixed by admixed alder. Regime 6 remained nonfertilized and nonthinned and totaled to about 4,000 TPA of several species. We installed three replicates of each regime. Thinning decreased TPA by about 13-fold but reduced stand volume by only about 32 percent. Subsequent 17-year change in mean tree volume was more than doubled by thinning, but volume growth per acre was 12 percent less on thinned than on nonthinned plots. Fertilization with urea did not stimulate tree or stand growth. Absence of a measurable increase in growth after fertilization with 200 lb N/acre was consistent with an absence of enhanced growth from N presumably fixed by admixed red alder. Through 17 years of observation, retaining 20, 40, or 80 red alder per acre had no measurable, positive effect on associated Douglas-fir. Retaining 80 per acre with 300 Douglas-fir trees after thinning, however, clearly increa...

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“…Despite greater stem numbers and volume in the mixed stand (Miller and Murray 1978), Douglas-fir in the mixed stand were clearly larger than those in adjacent portions of the same plantation with no interplanted alder. Because of N-fixation, soil N-content in the mixed stand exceeded that in the pure stand by 750 kglha at age 30 (Tarrant and Miller 1963) and by 2400 kglha at age 52 based on an independent sampling protocol (Binkley and others 1992). Plantavailable N (anaerobic-N) at age 60 averaged 33 mglkg within the mixed stand compared with 17 mglkg in the pure stand to the west side and 24 mglkg to east (Rhoades and Binkley 1992).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wildfire swept the area in 1902 and 1927. The soil, a moderately deep, well-drained gravelly loam derived from pyroclastic rocks, contained about 3000 kglha of total N to a 0.91-m depth at stand age 30 (Tarrant and Miller 1963).…”

Section: Stand Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ammonium nitrate, urea, and biuret fertilizers increase volume growth of 57-year-old Douglas-fir trees within a gradient of nitrogen deficiency.

Miller¹,

Reukema²,

Hazard³

1996

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In a nitrogen-deficient plantation in southwest Washington, we (1) compared effects of 224 kg Nlha as ammonium nitrate, urea, and biuret on volume growth of dominant and codominant Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii (Mirb.) Franco); (2) determined how 8-year response of these trees to fertilization was related to their distance from a strip of the plantation interplanted with nitrogen-fixing red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.); and (3) observed effects of biuret on understory vegetation. On both sides of the strip centerline, we grouped subject trees into 30 plots of 4 trees each, based on slope position and distance from alder. We randomly assigned three fertilizers and a control within each plot. We analyzed separately data from east and west of the mixed stand centerline. Initial volume differed greatly among the 120 trees on each side, so we used covariance analysis to adjust observed treatment means. Adjusted mean volume growth was increased (p ~0 . 1 0 ) by 22 to 28 percent on the east side and by I 1 to 14 percent on the west side, with no significant difference in response to the three fertilizers. Only biuret stimulated growth within the mixed stand. Biuret had no visible toxic effect on competing vegetation during 8 years after application.Keywords: Pseudotsuga menziesii, Douglas-fir, Alnus rubra, red alder, nitrogen fertilization, biuret, ammonium nitrate, urea, volume growth. SummaryUrea is the most commonly used source of nitrogen (N) for fertilizing Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesi~) forests in the Pacific Northwest. Although ammonium nitrate is an alternative source, about 20 percent more gain in cubic volume growth would be necessary to offset its greater treatment cost (material plus spreading). A third potential source is biuret from which nitrogen is released more slowly than from urea and, especially, from ammonium nitrate. Although biuret is toxic to most agricultural plants, some coniferous tree species, including Douglas-fir, tolerate biuret and respond positively in seeding size and weight. We report the first comparison of biuret versus other conventional sources of nitrogen under field conditions. The scope of our comparison was restricted to an N-deficient plantation in southwest Washington. At the time of fertilization, this 57-year-old plantation still retained most of the trees originally planted at a 2.4-by 2.4-m spacing after the 1928 growing season. Douglas-fir numbers were fewer, but volume of individual dominant trees averaged about 2.6 times greater, in a 27-m-wide strip through the plantation that had been interplanted at year 4 with N-fixing red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.). We surveyed a 15-by 15-m grid east and west of the mixed stand and selected the largest undamaged Douglas-fir closest to each grid point as our subject trees. The 240 subject trees were either 15, 30, 45, or 60 m from the outer row of red alder or within the mixed stand (0 m). At each of these distances, we randomly assigned one of four treatments (urea, ammonium nitrate, biuret, or...

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Accumulation of Organic Matter and Soil Nitrogen Beneath A Plantation of Red Alder and Douglas‐Fir

Cited by 81 publications

References 0 publications

Greater Soil Carbon Sequestration under Nitrogen-fixing Trees Compared with Eucalyptus Species

Greater Soil Carbon Sequestration under Nitrogen-fixing Trees Compared with Eucalyptus Species

Comparative effects of precommercial thinning, urea fertilizer, and red alder in a site II, coast Douglas-fir plantation.

Ammonium nitrate, urea, and biuret fertilizers increase volume growth of 57-year-old Douglas-fir trees within a gradient of nitrogen deficiency.

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