Effects of clear-cut logging on wood breakdown in Appalachian Mountain streams. Golladay, S. The American Midland Naturalist, 1988.
Effects of clear-cut logging on wood breakdown in Appalachian Mountain streams. [pdf]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
Red oak sticks, approximately 10-cm long and in three size classes were placed in two second-order streams at Coweeta. Big Hurricane Branch drains a watershed logged in 1976 (WS7), while Hugh White Creek drains an uncut reference watershed (WS14). Sticks were collected at 6-month to 1-year intervals from September 1981 through November 1985. Breakdown rates were significantly different among size classes on both watersheds; smaller sticks lost mass faster than larger sticks. Breakdown rates of similar size sticks were significantly faster in the disturbed stream than in Hugh White Creek. Faster rates of wood breakdown in Big Hurricane Branch may be associated with higher stream NO3-N levels, greater stream channel instability and greater invertebrate abundance on sticks.

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