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Dendrochemical response to soil fertilization

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Use of chemical element content of tree rings to detect soil acid or base changes was tested at 13 sites of former forest fertilization trials in the eastern United States and Canada. Ammonium sulfate or nitrogen fertilization was the typical acidification treatment, while lime added with or without other fertilizer was the typical base treatment. Molar ratios of calcium/manganese and magnesium/manganese in bolewood were used to detect changes in tree ring tissue from 10 hardwood and 3 conifer species available at these sites. Base fertilization at all sites caused molar ratios to increase in all species tested and acid treatment caused ratios in tree rings to decrease. Diffuse-porous hardwood species and conifers with wide sapwood regions were not useful in preserving a chemical record of soil changes caused by fertilization. Approximate chronologies of soil chemical change due to fertilization were approximately preserved in tree cores from Japanese larch and in ring-porous hardwoods sampled up to 30 years after fertilization. Greater use of dendrochemical sampling is recommended to assess fertilizer and soil acidification effects on trees.

Parent Publication

Citation

DeWalle, David R.; Tepp, Jeffrey S.; Swistock, Bryan R.; Edwards, Pamela J.; Sharpe, William E.; Adams, Mary Beth; Kochenderfer, James N. 2003. Dendrochemical response to soil fertilization. In: Van Sambeek, J. W.; Dawson, Jeffery O.; Ponder Jr., Felix; Loewenstein, Edward F.; Fralish, James S., eds. Proceedings of the 13th Central Hardwood Forest Conference; Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-234. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station: 480-488
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/15828