Date of Award
2019
Document Type
Open Access Master's Report
Degree Name
Master of Science in Forest Ecology and Management (MS)
Administrative Home Department
College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
Advisor 1
Andrew Burton
Committee Member 1
Tara Bal
Committee Member 2
Evan Kane
Abstract
A novel follow-on study examines the recovery of ecosystem processes in 2018, following the cessation of chronic N deposition additions from 1994 to 2017 to a series of northern hardwood forest stands in Michigan. This recovery study focuses on the response to reduced N deposition of dissolved organic C (DOC) and dissolved organic N (DON) in soil solution and leaf litter N concentration. The findings suggest that even after N treatment to the system had stopped, N saturation was sustained, as soil solution outputs of nitrogen from the system were approximately equal to ambient N deposition inputs. Leaf litter N also remained elevated which could lead to a continuation of many of the other responses associated with elevated N, including elevated DOC leaching. The study sites continue to exhibit effects of N saturated ecosystem during the first year of recovery, but more time will be needed to fully understand the long term recovery effects reduced N inputs to the ecosystems.
Recommended Citation
Selan, Jeffrey M., "ARE THE EFFECTS OF ECOSYSTEM NITROGEN SATURATION, INDUCED BY CHRONIC SIMULATED N DEPOSITION, RAPIDLY REVERSIBLE?", Open Access Master's Report, Michigan Technological University, 2019.