Document

Title

Effects of fire alone or combined with thinning on tissue nutrient concentrations and nutrient resorption in Desmodium nudiflorum
Document Type: Journal Article
Author(s): Jianjun Huang; Ralph E. J. Boerner
Publication Year: 2007

Cataloging Information

Keyword(s):
  • Desmodium
  • Desmodium nudiflorum
  • ecosystem dynamics
  • fire management
  • forest management
  • herbaceous vegetation
  • leaves
  • litter
  • low intensity burns
  • N - nitrogen
  • National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study
  • Ohio
  • overstory
  • P - phosphorus
  • plant growth
  • plant nutrients
  • soil nutrients
  • soils
  • state forests
  • statistical analysis
  • thinning
  • tissue nutrients
  • vegetation
Topic(s):
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Record Maintained By:
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Record Last Modified: June 1, 2018
FRAMES Record Number: 6996
Tall Timbers Record Number: 22412
TTRS Location Status: In-file
TTRS Call Number: Fire File
TTRS Abstract Status: Okay, Fair use, Reproduced by permission

This bibliographic record was either created or modified by the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy and is provided without charge to promote research and education in Fire Ecology. The E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database is the intellectual property of the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.

Description

This study examined tissue nutrient responses of Desmodium nudiflorum to changes in soil total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) and available phosphorus (P) that occurred as the result of the application of alternative forest management strategies, namely (1) prescribed low-intensity fire (B), (2) overstory thinning followed by prescribed fire (T + B), and (3) untreated control C), in two Quercus-dominated forests in the State of Ohio, USA. In the fourth growing season after a first fire, TIN was significantly greater in the control plots (9.8 mg/kg) than in the B (5.5 mg/kg) and T + B (6.4 mg/kg) plots. Similarly, available P was greater in the control sites (101 ug/g) than in the B (45 ug/kg) and T + B (65 ug/kg) sites. Leaf phosphorus ([P]) was higher in the plants from control site (1.86 mg/g) than in either the B (1.77 mg/g) or T + B plants (1.73 mg/g). Leaf nitrogen ([N]) and root [N] showed significant site-treatment interactive effects, while stem [N], stem [P], and root [P] did not differ significantly among treatments. During the first growing season after a second fire, leaf [N], stem [N], litter [P] and available soil [P] were consistently lower in plots of the manipulated treatments than in the unmanaged control plot, whereas the B and T + B plots did not differ significantly from each other. N resorption efficiency was positively correlated with the initial foliar [N] in the manipulated (B and T + B) sites, but there was no such relation in the unmanaged control plots. P resorption efficiency was positively correlated with the initial leaf [P] in both the control and manipulated plots. Leaf nutrient status was strongly influenced by soil nutrient availability shortly after fire, but became more influenced by topographic position in the fourth year after fire. Nutrient resorption efficiency was independent of soil nutrient availability. These findings enrich our understanding of the effects of ecosystem restoration treatments on soil nutrient availability, plant nutrient relations, and plant-soil interactions at different temporal scales.

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Citation:
Huang, Jianjun; Boerner Ralph E. J. 2007. Effects of fire alone or combined with thinning on tissue nutrient concentrations and nutrient resorption in Desmodium nudiflorum. Oecologia 153(2):233-243.