Magnesium Flux and Storage Relationships in Missouri Tallgrass Prairie

Comparative Analyses of Carbon Dynamics in Native and Cultivated Ecosystems

“…Data for native Missouri prairie, though available in different publications of Kucera and his co-workers (Dahlman and Kucera 1965, 1969, Koelling and Kucera 1965a, b, Kucera et al 1967, Kucera and Dahlman 1968a, b, Kucera and Kirkham 1971, Herman and Kucera 1975, Herman 1977, Zimmerman and Kucera 1977, Callahan and Kucera 1981 have never been generalized, and new, unpublished information recently has been accumulated. At the University of Missouri, data have been and are being accumulated during the past two decades on major components of the carbon cycle in native prairie and winter wheat stands, situated under similar edaphic and climatic conditions.…”

“…These studies, aided by use of 14 C as a tracer, evaluated both above-and belowground production as sources of organic carbon. Data for native Missouri prairie, though available in different publications of Kucera and his co-workers (Dahlman and Kucera 1965, 1969, Koelling and Kucera 1965a, b, Kucera et al 1967, Kucera and Dahlman 1968a, b, Kucera and Kirkham 1971, Herman and Kucera 1975, Herman 1977, Zimmerman and Kucera 1977, Callahan and Kucera 1981 have never been generalized, and new, unpublished information recently has been accumulated. Some details on productivity and soil respiration losses of a winter wheat ecosystem have been published recently by Wagner (1986, 1987), and .…”

Nutrient cycling in an excessively rainfed subtropical grassland at Cherrapunji

“…Also, a decrease from dead shoot to litter stage is invariably found in all these reports. However, Callahan and Kucera (1981) reported an increase in Mg concentration and we too observed a significant increase (P <0•05) in Ν concentration in litter over that in the dead shoot. Loss of carbohydrates during the early phase of decomposition and/or net immobilization of nitrogen in associated microbial growth during the course of litter decomposition could account for this increase (Mellilo et al 1982).…”

“…The decline in concentration of nutrients from live to dead shoot stage is a common phenomenon in temperate (Bokhari and Singh 1975;Callahan and Kucera 1981) as well as tropical grasslands (Mishra 1979;Mall 1976, 1985;Chaturvedi et al 1988). This decline has been attributed to the withdrawal of nutrients from the shoot during senescence (Clark 1977), weathering and leaching processes (Tukey 1970) and activity of decomposer organisms (Nykvist 1959).…”

“…Decrease in nutrient concentration from live to dead root stage corresponds to the trend noted in a high altitude grassland in Kumaun Himalaya by Chaturvedi et al (1988). Results of a large number of studies reveal that concentration of nutrients in live root or belowground organs is generally less than the live shoot both in temperate (Callahan and Kucera 1981;Ohlson and Malmer 1990) and tropical grasslands Mall 1976, 1985;Agrawal and Tiwari 1987;Buschbacher et al 1988;Chaturvedi et al 1988). Except for Ν and Na, this trend is true for Cherrapunji grassland as well, but the magnitude of difference varies for different nutrients.…”