Coarse woody debris and nutrient dynamics in a southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest
Rose AK. 2000. Coarse woody debris and nutrient dynamics in a southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest. University of Tennessee
The invasion of the balsam woolly adelgid in the late 1970s killed the majority of endemic Fraser fir trees, resulting in large amounts of coarse woody debris. In an effort to quantify nitrogen cycling in spruce-fir ecosystems, the 17.4 ha Noland Divide Watershed in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been intensively studied since the mid 1980s. Permanent plots were used to determine the volume and biomass of down and standing dead wood in this watershed. Red spruce, Fraser fir, and yellow birch boles were sampled to determine decay rates, change in density, change in concentration and content of carbon and nitrogen over the decomposition process, and the extent to which dead wood was acting as a sink for nitrogen.
- Type
- Academic
- Authors
- Rose, Anita
- Date of Issue
- 2000-08
- Publisher
- University of Tennessee
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- APHN, Appalachian Highlands Network, Balsam Woolly Adelgid (Adelges piceae), Carbon (C), Debris, Decomposition, Forestry, Fraser's Fir (Abies fraseri), Great Smoky Mountains National Park, GRSM, Nitrogen (N), Noland Divide Watershed, Nutrient Cycle, Pinaceae, Red Spruce (Picea rubens), SER, Southeast Region, Thesis, yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis)