Tag: Soil

Soil Organic Matter and Nutrient Availability Responses to Reduced Plant Inputs in Shortgrass Steppe

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Author: Kelly, Robin H.; Burke, Ingrid C.; Lauenroth, William K. Description: We examined soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics in a shortgrass steppe ecosystem along spatial gradients in plant inputs and temporal gradients in disturbance age because a better understanding of decay characteristics of SOM pools may improve our ability to predict ecosystem responses to perturbation. We assessed measurable pools of SOM that are thought to correspond to active, intermediate, and passive SOM based upon turnover characteristics in three separate experiments. In a first, we evaluated SOM pools along a spatial…

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Landscape Patterns in Soil-Plant Water Relations and Primary Production in Tallgrass Prairie

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Author: Knapp, A. K.; Fahnestock, J. T.; Hamburg, S. P.; Statland, L. B.; Seastedt, T. R.; Schimel, D. S. Description: Landscape variation in soil water relations, leaf xylem pressure potential (°) and leaf-level net photosynthesis (A) in Andropogon gerardii, and net primary production (NPP) were evaluated during the 1989 and 1990 growing seasons in a northeast Kansas (USA) tallgrass prairie. Landscape patterns were assessed along transects that spanned upland and lowland topographic positions in an annually burned and a long-term unburned watershed. Landscape variability in volumetric soil water content (°)…

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Oak Tree Effects on Soil and Herbaceous Vegetation in Savannas and Pastures in Wisconsin

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Author: Ko, Leonora J.; Reich, Peter B. Description: To study tree/nontree interactions, soil characteristics, aboveground biomass and plant composition were compared in areas under and adjacent to canopies of open grown bur oaks (Quercus macrocarpa) and northern pin oak x black oak hybrids (Q. ellipsoidalis x velutina) in two savannas and two pastures in S-central Wisconsin. One savanna and one pasture were paired on loam soils, the other sites were on sandy soils. In general, soil moisture was higher below tree canopies than outside canopies during a drying trend and…

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The effects of forest disturbance on diversity of tropical soil nematodes

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Author: Bloemers, G. F.; Hodda, M.; Lambshead, P. J. D.; Lawton, J. H.; Wanless, F. R. Description: We provide the first account of the effects of forest disturbance on species richness of nematodes in tropical forest soils, from 24 sites along gradients of disturbance and regeneration in the Mbalmayo Forest Reserve, Cameroon. Species richness was very high. Samples of 200 nematodes from individual soil cores contained a maximum of 89 and an average of 61 species; in total we recorded 431 species and approximately 194 genera. The model of Siemann…

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