The conceptual framework of an erosion model has been designed to link processes of mass wasting, surface erosion, and channel storage and transport. A program to stimulate mass wasting will be based on a variation of the factor of safety approach which balances forces tending to drive mass movement against...
Carbon sequestration in tropical secondary forests growing in all climates must be quantified to understand their potential role in adaptation and mitigation strategies of global climate change. Total aboveground biomass (TAGB), soil carbon, and total ecosystem carbon (TEC) were measured in 54 secondary forests growing along a broad bioclimatic gradient...
Dry coniferous forests in the western United States are experiencing severe wildfires, insect outbreaks, forest disease epidemics and a growing presence of invasive species. Policies strongly emphasize reducing hazardous fuels at the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) where communities and forests intersect. However, these areas present restoration challenges as they tend...
Nitrification and denitrification are major biological processes transforming nitrogen (N) in soils to plant available N, highly leachable nitrate (NO₃⁻) and gaseous N oxides. Although many studies in the past have studied N cycling communities, the effect of increased N inputs on ammonia-oxidizer and denitrifier population dynamics is still under...
The understory vegetation was sampled in eight plant communities
of a Douglas-fir ecosystem to determine the organic matter
production and mineral composition.
Four sample sites were selected in each plant community and
the understory vegetation sampled using the method of quadrats of
successively increasing size. All herbaceous plants were separated...
Recent catastrophic wildfires have forced the forest management community to develop new strategies for reducing forest fuels. Tightly spaced understory trees often create a fire ladder allowing surface fires to encroach into the crowns of overstory trees. This situation can lead to intensive, catastrophic, stand-replacement forest fires. Mechanical removal or...
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3.0 SOIL COMPACTION AND VISUAL SOIL DISTURBANCE
FOLLOWING TWO MECHANICAL FOREST FUEL
A study was conducted to investigate the influence of root reinforcements on soil strength and the initiation of static liquefaction in forest soils. The design and operation was developed of an apparatus capable of modeling rainfall-induced shallow hill-slope failures that also permitted observation of the soil volume change tendencies at...
The variability of selected physical, chemical, and morphological
soil properties in two landtype mapping units on'the Rogue River National
Forest in southwestern Oregon was studied.
The objectives of the study were (i) to quantify soil variability
in several soil resource inventory mapping units, (ii) to explore methods
of describing soil...
Soils and other resource programs in both public land management agencies and private industry are continually being adapted to the challenges of evolving knowledge and experience in the field of forestry. This dissertation explores new ways of thinking about and using soils information in forest planning and management, with a...
Sustainable management of planted forests requires maintenance of soil function
to promote 1) root growth; 2) storage and cycling of water and nutrients; 3) optimal gas
exchange; and 4) biological activity. Soil quality measurements can be used to monitor
short- and long-term changes in these soil functions, allowing managers to...
This research addressed the opportunity to obtain baseline data for both stream chemistry and soil resources for an intensively managed forest watershed, encompassed by the North and South Forks of Hinkle Creek Watershed Research and Demonstration Area Project near Sutherlin, Oregon. A solid representative database for both stream and soil...
Belowground carbon (C) storage and quality of soil organic matter (SOM) in
forest soils have implications for sustainable forest management and C sequestration,
but how these pools change in response to management is poorly understood. I
investigated whether fertilization and competing vegetation control, applied alone or
in combination early in...
This publication is a reference guide for forest soils productivity and management. Main topics include (1) understanding and managing risk, (2) soil characteristics that affect productivity, (3) soil survey information for forestland managers/management of soil erosion, (4) managing mass wasting risk, (5) managing soil disturbance, and (6) maintaining adequate nutrient...
Information about forest substrate respiration, nitrogenase activity and
mineralizable nitrogen may be incorporated into carbon and nitrogen budgets that comprise an important element of forest management planning. In this study, substrate respiration, nitrogenase activity and mineralizable nitrogen were measured in two western Oregon Douglas-fir [Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco] stands within...
In this study, biological and chemical characteristics were determined for two high-elevation meadow-to-forest transitions located in the Central Oregon Cascades. The chloroform fumigation incubation method (CFIM) was used to determine microbial biomass C(MBC) and the N flush due to fumigation (NF), and meadow values were compared to forest values for...
Little is known about biophysical controls on soil respiration in California’s Sierra Nevada oldgrowth, mixed-conifer forests. Using portable and automated soil respiration sampling units, we measured soil respiration rate (SRR) in three dominant patch types: closed canopy (CC), ceanothus-dominated patches (CECO), and open canopy (OC). SRR varied significantly among the...
Calcium (Ca) is an essential macronutrient that is increasingly recognized as a biogeochemical factor that influences ecosystem structure and function. Progress in understanding the sustainability of ecosystem Ca supply has been hampered by a lack of information on the various forms and pools of Ca in forest ecosystems. In particular,...
Soils are a globally significant carbon (C) pool and have the potential to respond to elevated CO2 and environmental changes through positive feedback cycles that enhance the turnover of soil organic matter (SOM). Understanding the mechanisms governing the turnover of SOM is particularly important for modeling the fate of C...
Biometric and gas exchange techniques were used to measure soil respiration (soil surface CO₂ efflux) and NEP (Net Ecosystem Production) across three climatically-distinct forest chronosequences in Oregon. Results indicate significant forest type, age, and forest type x age interaction effects on annual soil respiration. A regional age class distribution skewed...
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays an important role in transport of C and essential nutrients such as N, P and S. DOM is also critical for the formation of soil organic matter (SOM), which is the largest terrestrial C pool. Nonetheless, we lack a basic understanding of what controls immobilization...
Soil organic matter (SOM) is the terrestrial biosphere's largest pool of organic carbon (C) and is an integral part of C cycling globally. Soil organic matter composition typically can be traced directly back to the type of detrital inputs; however, the stabilization of SOM results as a combination of chemical...
Mat-forming ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungi represent a prevalent constituent of many temperate forest ecosystems and create dramatic changes in soil structure and chemistry. EcM mat soil have been shown to have increased microbial respiration rates and have been hypothesized to harbor unique assemblages of fungi and bacteria. The objectives of this...
In recent years considerable interest has been shown in the diversity of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in soil communities. The majority of the research has been carried out in Northern Europe where soils have received high atmospheric inputs of nitrogen over the past two centuries. In contrast, although much work has been...
Published December 1981. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
The authors varied the number of red alder retained with 300 Douglas-fir per acre on a high-quality site in coastal Oregon. Alder densities of 0, 20, 40, and 80 per acre were tested. The authors' fifth treatment eliminated nitrogen-fixing alder, but substantial nitrogen fertilizer. Treatment 6 had neither thinning nor...
Forest soils with low bulk densities are often considered less
susceptible to compaction than soils with higher bulk densities. The
objective of this study was to determine if soil strength controlled the
compression of soils with low bulk density. Four soils were selected
for this evaluation. Three of these were...
One of the basic questions facing transportation planners and road managers is how to provide and maintain a road system that provides efficient access to the forest while limiting adverse effects roads can have on water and soil resources. The purpose of this study is to develop decision support models...
Forest management is rapidly undergoing a transformation from a discipline based on efficient commodity production to one for multiple uses, especially on federally managed land in the United States. This new management paradigm has challenged silviculturists to develop and adapt forest management techniques that can deal with increased demands. Using...
Prior to 2005, ammonia oxidation, the first step of nitrification, was thought mediated mainly by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). However, the discovery of Thaumarchaeota carrying the genes coding for the ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) enzyme led to the discovery that ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) also contribute to nitrification. Despite the uptick in studies...
Debris flows in the Pacific Northwest play a major role in routing wood and sediment stored on hillslopes and in first- through third-order channels to higher order channels and valley floors. Forest practices on steep, unstable slopes and removal of riparian trees along low-order streams can affect the frequency, magnitude,...
I examined factors regulating decomposition rates of red alder (Alnus rubra)) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) leaf litter in Coast Range riparian areas in western Oregon. Overall, this study was designed to examine the influence that leaf litter quality characteristics and decomposition site treatment have on decomposition rates, to provide a...
Denitrification, the biological or chemical reduction of ionic nitrogen oxide or dinitrogen, has not been widely studied in forest ecosystems despite widespread interest in other facets of the forest nitrogen economy. This study had three main objectives: to determine whether potential for denitrification exists in forest riparian and hill slope...
A Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA) Model was
developed for the forested soils of Lane County, in western Oregon,
based on soil potential ratings and indexes of parcel size and
adjacent and surrounding land use conflict. Lane County's economy
is heavily dependent on resource production uses of land for...
The following report Introduces a documentation scheme for flow
oriented ecosystem models and shows its application to a carbon-water
model developed within the coniferous biome. This documentation scheme
has remained operative through revision of this model and expansion of
It to include nutrient flows. This model and subsequent versions are...
Most soil organic C is in a stable form, associated with clay minerals in the upper soil profile. Upon environmental and land-use changes, stable soil C is subject to losses, which influence the global C cycle and the productivity of terrestrial ecosystems. However, mechanisms controlling soil C destabilization are not...
During Biome 1, our primary objective was identification of the dominant fungi involved in litter decomposition. Two survey methods
were used: (1) a survey of macrofungi occurring on Watershed 2 based on fruiting bodies collected and cultures; and (2) a survey of microfungi on decomposing foliage based on cultures isolated...
Soil moisture and temperature regimes during spring-summer 1996 were evaluated
in plots with compaction and organic residues treatments established in 1993 at three sites
in the Sierra National Forest after forest harvesting. The results indicate that the bare
condition (non-compacted soil with total removal of the harvesting residues and forest...
The purpose of this study was to determine if thinning, fertilization or a combination of thinning and fertilization had an effect on overall average specific gravity, modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, fiber length and intra-ring characteristics. Material for this experiment consisted of 7 trees randomly selected from each of...
Globally, the forestry sector is the second largest contributor of greenhouse gases, and sustainable forest management is a major target of international environmental policy. However, there is the assumption underlying many policy recommendations that an increase in above-ground carbon stocks correspond to long term increases in ecosystem carbon stocks, the...
Soil effects from mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa ) burrowing were
investigated in Oregon Coast Range soils formed from Tyee sandstone. The potential
for observed changes in soil to affect productivity was assessed. Soil horizons from
mountain beaver mound soil and adjacent unmounded profiles were collected with a
monolith-type quantitative sampler....
Site preparation treatments are often used prior to the planting of clearcut
forest lands to improve planter access and to increase the number and quality of
planting spots. Most mechanical site preparation treatments alter the
configuration and material composition of surface soil materials, and can have
marked effects on soil...
Effects of three mulches of tree foliage and twigs (red alder, Douglas-fir, and
salal) and homogenized, partially decomposed material (forest floor) on soil macronutrients
(Ca, K, Mg, P, NO3, and NH4) were evaluated in the summer of 1997. These
effects were measured with buried, coated ion-exchange resin bags at two...
The strength of both undisturbed and compacted soils from 10 sites
in the slide-prone Tongass National Forest in SE Alaska were studied.
Index property tests were also conducted on disturbed samples. The
index tests included natural water content, Atterberg Limits, specific
gravity of solids, grain size distribution, and moisture-density relationship....
Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi of the genera Piloderma and Ramaria form dense hyphal mats in the organic and upper mineral soil layers, respectively, in coniferous forest floors of the Pacific Northwest. Previous studies have determined that fungal mats change the chemical, physical, and biological properties of the soil within. Little information...