Site preparation burning to improve southern Appalachian pin-hardwood stands: nitrogen responses in soil, soil water, and streams. Knoepp, J. D. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 1993.
Site preparation burning to improve southern Appalachian pin-hardwood stands: nitrogen responses in soil, soil water, and streams. [pdf]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
Three paired watersheds treated with a fell and burn prescription were studied to determine the effects on soil, soil water, and stream water nitrogen. Soil nitrification and mineralization were measured by closed core in situ incubation. Soil water was collected with porous cup lysimeters placed at 30 and 60 cm depths, and water samples were collected from streams draining control and burned areas on one of the three sites. Data were collected for 6 months prior to and 12 months after treatment. Soil ammonium concentrations increased significantly in all three sites after burning, but the magnitude differed greatly among sites. However, there was no change in soil nitrate content. Net mineralization rates increased with increasing burn severity. Net nitrification displayed no treatment response. Slight and non-significant increases in soil water nitrate concentration occurred after burning in two of the three sites. Stream water nitrate concentrations increased in the one stream sampled. Thus, while prescribed burning increased available soil N, there was little change in N transformation rates or movement of dissolved inorganic N off-site during the first year after burning.

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