PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #27: Nutrient Cycling I.
Tuesday, August 6. Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. Exhibit Hall B & C, TCC
132
Enlarging glade communities through mechanical clearing: Initial soil and plant responses.
RHOADES, CHUCK*,1, MILLER, SUSAN2, SHEA, MARGARET3, 1 Department of Forestry, Lexington, KY2 Department of Biology, Georgetown, KY3 Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, Clermont, KY
ABSTRACT- In central Kentucky, small herbaceous communities known locally as glades or prairie openings support rare plant assemblages that are isolated within the deciduous forest matrix. Management to maintain or enlarge these communities typically involves mechanical removal of woody plants growing around the opening perimeter. Our previous research in Kentucky's western Knobs Region described distinct soil properties and nutrient cycling processes across the transition from the openings into surrounding forest. Our current work assesses the initial soil and vegetation changes associated with mechanical clearing of forest edge aimed at expanding the herbaceous openings. We assessed differences in soil, abiotic and vegetation conditions in ten pairs of cleared and undisturbed eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) and mixed hardwood forest edges during two growing seasons following clearing. As expected cutting increased growing season soil temperature (1.3 oC) and herb layer radiation (500%). Net mineralization increased 1.6-fold in both hardwood and eastern redcedar forest edge following clearing. In uncut edge, net mineralization and nitrification were twice as high beneath hardwood compared to eastern redcedar edge. Soil CO2 efflux declined by 33% following cutting of hardwood edge, but was unaffected by eastern redcedar removal. As the pretreatment soil conditions and the responses to clearing differed beneath the two forest edge types, we expect the development of herbaceous communities within cleared forest edges to also differ based on initial edge species and soil conditions.
KEY WORDS: Restoration, Glades, Nitrogen Cycling, Soil Respiration