PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 2: Forest Ecology
Monday, August 8, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall 220 A-E, Level 2, Palais des congrès de Montréal

Aboveground biomass and nutrient content in developing northern hardwood stands.

Fatemi, Farrah ¹, Yanai, Ruth ¹, ¹ Faculty of Forest and Natural Resources Management, Syracuse, NY

ABSTRACT- Although younger stands have little commercial value, assessing the biomass and nutrient content is critical for understanding nutrient accumulation patterns and evaluating forest stock changes for elements such as carbon and nitrogen. However, relatively few studies have described biomass and nutrient content in younger stands (less than 35 years since cutting). Additionally, how well estimations of biomass and corresponding nutrient content vary by site is poorly understood. Trees of the same diameter at breast height may be similar in biomass regardless of age, but nutrient content of these trees in younger stands may differ compared to older stands. We characterized the aboveground biomass of four developing stands (13, 15, 26 and 30 years since cutting) at the Bartlett Experimental Forest, NH. We also attempt to compare our biomass and nutrient content estimations to published values to better understand how variable these estimations are by site. 10-12 trees of each of the following species were sampled; American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.), red maple (Acer rubrum L.), yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britt.), white birch (Betula papyrifera) and pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica L.f.). Biomass was separated into wood, bark, leaves and branches and the dry weights of each component were then regressed against diameter at base height. Equations developed from these data are less effective at predicting branch, bark and leaf biomass and best at predicting aboveground whole tree and wood biomass.

Key words: nutrient cycling, forests, site-specific, wood biomass