CRUI Land Use Project - Litterfall, Biomass and Productivity

Data

• hf133-01: annual litterfall
• hf133-02: total aboveground biomass
• hf133-03: productivity and stem count

Overview

• Lead: Charles McClaugherty, Richard Bowden, Timothy Sipe
• Investigators: Heather Frankland
• Contact: Charles McClaugherty
• Start date: 1996-09-01
• End date: 1997-08-31
• Location: Prospect Hill Tract (Harvard Forest)
• Latitude: +42.53 to +42.55
• Longitude: -72.20 to -72.17
• Elevation: 335 to 357 meters
• Taxa: Acer rubrum (red maple), Acer saccharum (sugar maple), Acer pennsylvanicum (striped maple), Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch), Betula lenta (black birch), Betula papyrifera (paper birch), Betula populifolia (grey birch), Castanea dentate (American chestnut), Fagus grandifolia (American beech), Fraxinus americana (white ash), Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel), Pinus strobus (white pine), Populus grandidentata (bigtooth aspen), Prunus serotina (black cherry), Quercus alba (white oak), Quercus rubra (red oak), Quercus velutina (black oak), Tsuga canadensis (hemlock)
• Research topic: historical, plot, community
• Study type: short-term measurement
• LTER core area: primary production, disturbance
• Keywords: aboveground productivity, land-use legacies, litter fall
• Release date: 2009
• EML version: knb-lter-hfr.133.3
• Revisions:
• Related links:
• CRUI Land Use Project - Tree Canopy Leaf Area Index
• CRUI Land Use Project - Canopy Sky Factors
• CRUI Land Use Project - Herbaceous Species
• CRUI Land Use Project - Mapped Trees
• CRUI Land Use Project - Microclimate
• CRUI Land Use Project - Photosynthetic Light Response Curves
• CRUI Land Use Project - Herbaceous Stratum Sunfleck Regimes
• CRUI Land Use Project - Tree Seedlings
• CRUI Land Use Project - Herbaceous Community Composition
• CRUI Land Use Project - Soil Properties
• CRUI Land Use Project - Soil Respiration
• Abstract:

  Prior agricultural land use often plays an important role in the present condition of forests. This research was conducted to find any productivity differences among previously plowed, pastured, and woodlot sites. There are six sites, two from each of the land use types. With this research we wanted to estimate the productivity for each of the six stands and test the hypothesis that rates of annual aboveground biomass and annual litter fall in recovering forests would decline in the order woodlot - pastured - plowed.

  Twenty-five trees, of various diameters and species, were cored at each site. The cores were analyzed and the radial growth was calculated for the most recent 5 and 10 year intervals. Biomass increments were also calculated for the same time span using published allometric equations. Aboveground woody productivity was calculated for diameter classes within species and semi-log relationships of productivity per diameter were used to calculate the productivity of all trees in the stand that were not cored. Site-specific and species-specific equations were used. Litter fall was estimated by collecting litter from ten traps each in the six stands. Litter was sorted by species and reported on a dry matter basis.

  Red oaks and red maples were the major contributors of biomass and litter fall in all six of the stands, accounting for about seventy percent of the total aboveground biomass. Although woodlots had higher total biomass there was not a significant difference in productivity across the six sites. The range of productivity including both litter fall and aboveground woody production was from 7524-9014 Kg/ha. This fell into the range for temperate forests according to results published by the International Biological Program. Production per unit biomass was greater in the plowed stand and least in the woodlots.

• Methods:

  Litter was collected in basket litter traps for one year beginning in September 1996, Litter was sorted by species and values reports as dry matter in units of kg/ha. Ten litter traps were placed in each of six plots.

  Plot locations: Plow #1 Site: Prospect Hill Tract, Compartment # III, southern end. Plow #2 Site: Prospect Hill Tract, Compartment # III, southern end. Pasture #1 Site: Prospect Hill Tract, Compartment # I, southeastern edge. Pasture #2 Site: Prospect Hill Tract, Compartment # VIII, central edge. Woodlot #1 Site: Prospect Hill Tract, Compartment # VIII, northeastern edge. Woodlot #2 Site: Prospect Hill Tract, Compartment # VII, central.

• Use:

  This dataset is released to the public and may be freely downloaded. Please keep the designated Contact person informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation or collaboration with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset must include proper acknowledgement. For more information on LTER Network data access and use policies, please see: http://www.lternet.edu/data/netpolicy.html.

• Citation:

  McClaugherty C, Bowden R, Sipe T. 2009. CRUI Land Use Project - Litterfall, Biomass and Productivity. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF133.

Detailed Metadata

hf133-01: annual litterfall

1. GENUS: genus
2. Plow 1: annual litterfall for Plow 1 (kilogramsPerHectarePerYear )
3. Plow 2: annual litterfall for Plow 2 (kilogramsPerHectarePerYear )
4. Past 1: annual litterfall for Pasture 1 (kilogramsPerHectarePerYear )
5. Past 2: annual litterfall for Pasture 2 (kilogramsPerHectarePerYear )
6. Wood 1: annual litterfall for Woodlot 1 (kilogramsPerHectarePerYear )
7. Wood 2: annual litterfall for Woodlot 2 (kilogramsPerHectarePerYear )

hf133-02: total aboveground biomass

1. Species: species
2. Plow 1: total aboveground biomass for Plow 1 (kilogramsPerHectare )
3. Plow 2: total aboveground biomass for Plow 2 (kilogramsPerHectare )
4. Past 1: total aboveground biomass for Pasture 1 (kilogramsPerHectare )
5. Past 2: total aboveground biomass for Pasture 2 (kilogramsPerHectare )
6. Wood 1: total aboveground biomass for Woodlot 1 (kilogramsPerHectare )
7. Wood 2: total aboveground biomass for Woodlot 2 (kilogramsPerHectare )

hf133-03: productivity and stem count

1. SITE: site name
   • plowed 1: Prospect Hill Tract, Compartment # III, southern end
   • plowed 2: Prospect Hill Tract, Compartment # III, southern end
   • pastured 1: Prospect Hill Tract, Compartment # I, southeastern edge
   • pastured 2: Prospect Hill Tract, Compartment # VIII, central edge
   • woodlot 1: Prospect Hill Tract, Compartment # VIII, northeastern edge
   • woodlot 2: Prospect Hill Tract, Compartment # VII, central
2. SPECIES: species
3. BIOMASS: biomass (kilogram )
4. PRODUCTIVITY: productivity (kilogramsPerHectare )
5. STEMS: number of stems (number )