Jack pine barrens in northeastern New York: postfire macronutrient concentrations, heat content, and understory biomass

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Forest Research
• Main Authors: Stergas, R. L., Adams, K. B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1989
• Subjects: Ecology; Forestry; Global and Planetary Change; Reindeer lichen
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/x89-137; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/x89-137

Macronutrient concentrations (N, P, K, Ca, and Mg), ash, high heat, and ash-free high heat contents were determined for current-year jack pine (Pinusbanksiana Lamb.) foliage, huckleberry (Gaylussaciabaccata (Wang.) K. Koch.) and blueberry (Vacciniumangustifolium Ait.) foliage, and reindeer lichen (Cladoniarangiferina (L.) Web.) thallus in four fire-regenerated jack pine (Pinusbanksiana Lamb.) stands in northeastern New York aged 21, 29, 46, and 67 years. Macronutrient concentrations and heat contents were usually lowest in lichen, but other species patterns differed with the variable. Overall, differences in macronutrient concentrations for each species in an age sequence were not significant. Comparisons of live aboveground understory biomass, macronutrient content, and heat content through the age sequence showed no significant differences, but the influence of stand age may have been masked by large spatial variability. If the wildfires that regenerated these jack pine stands caused serious nutrient losses, the adverse effects were no longer detectable with the methodology used in this study.