Effects of aspen canopy removal and root trenching on understory microenvironment and soil moisture

Powell, George W.; Bork, Edward W.

doi:10.1007/s10457-007-9051-z

Cited by 12 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…). In addition to the direct physical damage caused by logging, such changes can be attributed to the understory mesoclimate becoming more extreme: thinning or clearcutting can increase the penetration of precipitation and light, increase temperature extremes, and increase wind, potentially leading to greater desiccation stress (Chen, Franklin & Spies ; MacDonald & Thompson ; Powell & Bork ; Simonin et al . ; Ma et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many bryophyte species have shown declines after forest thinning or clearcutting (Fenton, Frego & Sims 2003;Caners, Macdonald & Belland 2010;Arseneault, Fenton & Bergeron 2012; but see Cleavitt et al 2008). In addition to the direct physical damage caused by logging, such changes can be attributed to the understory mesoclimate becoming more extreme: thinning or clearcutting can increase the penetration of precipitation and light, increase temperature extremes, and increase wind, potentially leading to greater desiccation stress (Chen, Franklin & Spies 1993;MacDonald & Thompson 2003;Powell & Bork 2007;Simonin et al 2007;Ma et al 2010;Arseneault, Fenton & Bergeron 2012). Such negative impacts (of canopy reduction) can be lessened by the presence of remnant sapling canopy (Fenton & Frego 2005;Arseneault, Fenton & Bergeron 2012), water bodies (Dynesius, Hylander & Nilsson 2009;Baldwin & Bradfield 2010), or woody debris (Fenton & Bergeron 2007;Dynesius, Astr€ om & Nilsson 2008;Pharo & Lindenmayer 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Log moisture capacity does not predict epixylic bryophyte growth under thinned and unthinned forest canopies

Haughian

Frego

2017

Functional Ecology

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Summary Coarse woody debris (CWD) serves as habitat for diverse and rare taxa in forest systems. Because the abundance of mosses appears to be correlated with log size and stage of decay, many have suggested that CWD serves as a moisture reservoir, ensuring a humid microclimate and facilitating moss growth, but no one has tested this connection. Intact forest canopies are also thought to maintain humid conditions that benefit moss growth. If microclimatic regulation is the primary mechanism contributing to high moss abundance on CWD, then epixylic moss growth should increase with the capacity of the log moisture reservoir, and the importance of the reservoir size should increase with canopy opening. Three types of synthetic logs, identical in size and shape but differing in moisture capacity, and two natural substrates, well‐decayed birch and cedar logs, were used to test the effects of log moisture capacity on growth of Dicranum flagellare under thinned and intact canopies of a spruce plantation over 20 months. Surface humidity was positively associated with moisture capacity, but did not reach the water compensation point outside of precipitation events. Under a closed forest canopy, moss growth was negligible across all log types. Under an open forest canopy, moss growth was greater on natural substrates than synthetic ones, and negatively related to moisture capacity. Coarse woody debris facilitates a sufficiently humid surface for only a short time after precipitation, presumably when a film of liquid water is maintained near the surface. For D. flagellare, canopy condition is a more accurate predictor of growth than CWD‐moisture capacity; any beneficial properties of CWD appear to be lessened by a dense forest canopy (as in silvicultural plantations), probably because it reduces access to liquid water from precipitation. We propose that the surface moisture availability of CWD depends on optimal depth of a ‘resisting layer’ below the log surface, representing a tradeoff between water retention and loss (via percolation or runoff at extremely deep vs. shallow resisting layer depth). Coarse woody debris may possess microclimate‐regulating traits that benefit moss growth, but it does not appear to act as a moisture capacitor. A http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.12864/suppinfo is available for this article.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Log moisture capacity does not predict epixylic bryophyte growth under thinned and unthinned forest canopies

Haughian

Frego

2017

Functional Ecology

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“…A negative relationship (r ¼ À0.759, P < 0.01) between SWC and herbage biomass supported the inference. Lesser SWC has also been observed beneath tree canopy (Mordelet et al, 1993;Powell and Bork, 2007) compared to open areas. About 5.6% and 9.3% decrease in SWC in N 10 and N 20 , respectively compared to the N 0 treatment, was due to nitrogen induced soil water use by the growing vegetation.…”

Section: Soil Water Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Effects ofAzadirachta indicaCanopy Manipulation and Nitrogen Fertilization on Diversity and Productivity of Herbaceous Vegetation in an Arid Environment of India

Singh

Shukla

2011

Arid Land Research and Management

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Effects of Azadirachta indica A. Juss and nitrogen fertilizer on herbaceous diversity, productivity, and soil improvement were monitored with aims to enhance productivity of desert pasturelands. Fifty four plots of 1 m 2 area were laid with lopping of 36-month old Azadirachta indica plants and nitrogen fertilization. Plots without plant (C 0 ), intact plant (C 1 ) and lopped plant (C 2 ) were canopy, whereas plots without nitrogen (N 0 ), 10 mg N kg À1 soil (N 10 ), and 20 mg N kg À1 soil (N 20 ) were nitrogen treatments. Both treatments influenced resource availability and vegetation diversity and biomass. Intact plants reduced photosynthetically active radiations (PAR) by 53-55% more PAR in C 0 =C 2 . A. indica plants were associated with 15 herbs=grass species belonging to 7 families. Nitrogen fertilization increased soil nitrogen, species richness, diversity, and biomass but negatively affected soil water and species evenness and dominance. Plots with intact plants showed highest soil available nitrogen, species richness, diversity, and evenness indices. However, soil water and species dominance were highest in the control plots. Herbage biomass increase was 2.0-fold more under intact plants and 1.4-fold more under lopped plants than in the control (C 0 N 0 ). The highest species diversity and biomass in C 1 N 20 suggest the benefit of tree association and nitrogen fertilization in enhancing rangeland productivity. Conclusively, application of nitrogen fertilizer enhances herbage productivity but retaining=introducing tree component in rangeland improves soil conditions, diversity, and herbage productivity in aridisol. Therefore, woody plants with canopy and addition of nitrogen fertilizer may be a viable option for increasing forage production in the forage-deficient dry lands.

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“…The establishment of woody vegetation through restoration will have other effects on the ground layer vegetation beyond changes in light availability and soil moisture. The presence of a woody canopy will also reduce wind speeds year‐round, ambient temperatures during summer and the incidence of frost in winter (Powell & Bork ). The presence of woody vegetation will also result in changes in soil structure and nutrient cycling as a result of woody root systems and associated micro flora and fauna.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of artificial shade and grazing removal on degraded grasslands: Implications of woody restoration for herbaceous vegetation

Norton¹,

Young²

2016

Eco Management Restoration

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Summary Extensive degraded short tussock grasslands of New Zealand's eastern South Island were dominated by woody vegetation prior to burning and livestock grazing associated with human settlement starting 800 years ago. There is increasing interest in restoring some of these grasslands back to a woody state. However, because of the long time frames involved in establishing a woody cover, it is difficult to predict the impacts that woody restoration will have on the extant herbaceous flora. Using a factorial trial with artificial shade and grazing exclusion, we assessed the potential impact of woody restoration on the structure and composition of the herbaceous flora over a six‐year period. The imposition of artificial shade resulted in significant increases in total species richness and the total cover of herbaceous vegetation, increases in cover of several individual forb and grass species and decreases in the cover of bare ground, moss and lichen in shade treatments. There were also changes in the overall community composition of shaded treatments reflecting these changes in vegetation cover and species richness. We found no statistically significant effects of grazing exclusion. We suggest that increased soil moisture resulting from shade addition plays an important role in increasing the herbaceous component of the flora. While woody restoration will have a range of effects on the herbaceous understorey, for example through competition and changes in soil conditions, our findings are important for planning future woody restoration in these degraded tussock grasslands. In particular, our results suggest that the best approach to ensure the persistence of herbaceous vegetation in woody restorations might be to ensure that restoration plantings result in a spatially heterogeneous vegetation arrangement.

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Effects of aspen canopy removal and root trenching on understory microenvironment and soil moisture

Cited by 12 publications

References 13 publications

Log moisture capacity does not predict epixylic bryophyte growth under thinned and unthinned forest canopies

Log moisture capacity does not predict epixylic bryophyte growth under thinned and unthinned forest canopies

Effects ofAzadirachta indicaCanopy Manipulation and Nitrogen Fertilization on Diversity and Productivity of Herbaceous Vegetation in an Arid Environment of India

Effect of artificial shade and grazing removal on degraded grasslands: Implications of woody restoration for herbaceous vegetation

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