Application of N fertilizer is a common forest management practice in the Pacific
Northwest, yet the long-term influence of fertilization on forest soil properties is not well known. Although elevated N often increases mineralization of C and N from labile organic matter, negative effects have been documented in recalcitrant organic...
Red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) is recognized as an important source of nitrogen to
ecosystems that it inhabits. I examined N dynamics within alder trees, alder leaf litter, and the soil beneath alder leaf litter. ¹⁵Nitrogen, a stable isotope of N, was used as a tracer to follow the movement...
Nitrogen incorporation from red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) into an Oregon upland mesic forest soil was studied by tracing the fate of 15N added as 15N-labeled alder leaf litter. The recovery of 15N in vegetation, litter, light- and heavy-fractions of the soil, the chloroform-labile (microbial biomass) pool, and the whole...
Models of ecosystem carbon (C) balance
generally assume a strong relationship between NPP,
litter inputs, and soil C accumulation, but there is little
direct evidence for such a coupled relationship. Using a
unique 50-year detrital manipulation experiment in a
mixed deciduous forest and in restored prairie grasslands
in Wisconsin, combined...