Abstract
Installation of heating cables for warming soil was used to evaluate the effect of disturbance on soil solution chemistry within a northern hardwood forest (Adirondack Mountains, New York). Differences in response among treatments suggested the importance of both the depth and timing of cable installation. There were increases (p>0.05) in many solutes within pilot study plots in which “surrogate cable” was installed at 15 cm depth. Most notably, mean nitrate concentrations for the 1st year following disturbance were 744 μeq l-1 at 15 cm depth compared to 7 μeq l-1 for the non-disturbed control. A comparison of pilot plots with 5 cm cable depth and an unheated soil-warming control plot with the same cable disturbance showed that the seasonality of soil disturbance may have a key role in response to disturbance. The soil solution response was diminished if installation occurred during the spring, a period of rapid uptake of nitrogen by vegetation. Mean nitrate concentrations were 176 μeq l-1 for 5-cm pilot plots (installed in fall 1991) versus 6 μeq l-1 for 5-cm, unheated soil-warming control plots (installed in spring 1992). Disturbance effects were attenuated over time and not generally apparent 1 year after installation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Burke MK, Raynal DJ (1994) Fine root growth phenology, production, and turnover in a nothern hardwood forest ecosystem. Plant Soil 162:135–146
David MB, Mitchell MJ, Nakas JP (1982) Organic and inorganic sulfur constituents of a forest soil and their relationship to microbial activity. Soil Sci Soc Am J 46:847–852
Driscoll CT, Van Dreason R (1993) Seasonal and long-term temporal patterns in the chemistry of Adirondack Lakes. Water Air Soil Pollut 67:319–344
Greenberg AE, Clesceri LS, Eaton AD (eds) Standard methods: for the examination of water and wastewater, 18th edn. American Public Health Association, Washington, DC
Hornbeck JW, Martin CW, Pierce RS, Bormann FH, Likens GE, Eaton JS (1986) Clearcutting Northern Hardwoods: effects and hydrologic and nutrient ion budgets. Forest Sci 32:667–686
Likens GE, Bormann FH, Johnson NM, Fisher WD, Pierce RS (1970) Effects of forest cutting and herbicide treatment on nutrient budgets in the Hubbard Brook Watershed-ecosystem. Ecol Monogr 40:23–47
Mitchell MJ, Burke MK, Shepard JP (1992) Seasonal and spatial patterns of S, Ca, and N dynamics of a northern hardwood forest ecosystem. Biogeochemistry 17:165–189
Mitchell MJ, Driscoll CT, Porter JH, Raynal DJ, Schaefer D, White EH (1994) The Adirondack Manipulation and Modeling Projekt (AMMP): design and preliminary results. Forest Ecol Manag 68:87–100
Mollitor AV, Raynal DJ (1982) Acid precipitation and ionic input in Adirondack forest soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 46:137–141
Murdoch PS, Stoddard JL (1993) Chemical characteristics and temporal trends in eight streams of the Catskill Mountains, New York. Water Air Soil Pollut 67:367–395
SAS Institute (1985) SAS user's guide: statistics, version 5ed. SAS Institute, Cary, NC
Shepard JP, Mitchell MJ, Scott TJ, Driscoll CT (1990) Soil solution chemistry of an Adirondack Spodosol: lysimetry and N dynamics. Can J For Res 20:818–824
Shepard JP, Mitchell MJ, Scott TJ, Zhang YM, Raynal DJ (1989) Measurement of wet and dry deposition in a northern hardwood forest. Water Air Soil Pollut 48:225–238
Somers RC (1986) Soil classification, genesis, morphology, and variability of soils found within the central Adirondack region of New York. PhD dissertation, State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York
Sommerfeld RA, Mosier AR, Musselman RC (1993) CO2, CH4 and N2O flux through a Wyoming snowpack and implications for global budgets. Nature 361:140–142
Van Miegroet H, Cole DW, Foster NW (1992) Nitrogen distribution and cycling. In: Johnson DW, Linberg SE (eds) Atmospheric Deposition and Forest Nutrient Cycling: a Synthesis of the Integrated Forest Study. Springer, New York, pp 178–196
Vitousek PM, Gosz JR, Grier CC, Melillo JM, Reiners WA, Todd RL (1979) Nitrate losses from disturbed ecosystems. Science 204:469–474
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McHale, P.J., Mitchell, M.J. Disturbance effects on soil solution chemistry due to heating cable installation. Biol Fert Soils 22, 40–44 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00384430
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00384430