The influece of forest gaps on some properties of humus in a managed beech forest, northern Iran

Abstract

Astract-The present research focuses on the effect of eight year old artificially created gaps on some prop erties of humus in managed beech dominated stand in Hyrcanian forest of northern Iran. In this study, six teen gaps were sampled in site and were classified into four classes (small, medium, large, and very large) with four replications for each. Humus sampling was carried out at the centre and at the cardinal points within each gap as well as in the adjacent closed stand, separately, as composite samples. The variables of organic carbon, P, K, pH, and total N were measured for each sample. It was found that the gap size had significant effect only on total N (%) and organic carbon (%) in beech stand. The amount of potassium clearly differed among three positions in beech forest. The adjacent stand had higher significantly potassium than center and edge of gaps. Different amount of potassium was detected in gap center and gap edge. Comparison of humus properties between gaps and its adjacent stand pointed to the higher amount of potassium in adjacent stand than that in gaps but there was no difference between them regarding other humus properties. According to the results, it can be concluded that there is relatively similar condition among gaps and closed adjacent stands in terms of humus properties eight years after logging in the beech stand.

The Spatial Variability of Soil Physical Properties of Different Sized-gap in a Subtropical Forest, China

“…Gap size did influence the soil organic matter, which lowest in medium gap size and highest in large gap size. A similar finding was reported at a subtropical humid forest of north-east India, that gap size affected organic matter [28] also similar to the report from the beech forest in northern Iran [29]. Organic matter is the main source of nutrients for the plant growth which decomposed from organic material by the microbial activity in soil [30].…”

Effects of Forest Gap on Soil Microbial Communities in an Evergreen Broad-Leaved Secondary Forest

“…Environmental factors, such as temperature, solar radiation, and moisture, are all strongly affected by the size of the forest gaps [6,10]. Moreover, microclimatic changes induced by forest gaps significantly influence local biogeochemical cycling [11,12].…”