Impacts of fire and fire surrogate treatments on forest soil properties: a meta-analytical approach.

The soils underlying the 12 Fire and Fire Surrogates Network include six soil orders and >50 named soil series. Across the network, pretreatment soils varied from 3.7 to 7.

Ecophysiological responses of two herbaceous species to prescribed burning, alone or in combination with overstory thinning.

The oak-rich deciduous forests of the central Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America have changed significantly since the onset of effective fire suppression early in the 20th century. Those changes have resulted in progressively decreasing light and nutrient supplies to herbaceous perennial understory species. Application of ecological restoration treatments such as reintroduction of frequent dormant-season fire and overstory thinning to pre-suppression density often increase light, soil temperature and moisture, and short-term nutrient availability to pre-suppression levels.

Effects of fire alone or combined with thinning on tissue nutrient concentrations and nutrient resorption in Desmodium nudiflorum.

This study examined tissue nutrient responses of Desmodium nudiflorum to changes in soil total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) and available phosphorus (P) that occurred as the result of the application of alternative forest management strategies, namely (1) prescribed low-intensity fire (B), (2) overstory thinning followed by prescribed fire (T + B), and (3) untreated control C), in two Quercus-dominated forests in the State of Ohio, USA. In the fourth growing season after a first fire, TIN was significantly greater in the control plots (9.8 mg/kg) than in the B (5.

Fencerows, Edges, and Implications of Changing Connectivity Illustrated by Two Contiguous Ohio Landscapes.

We evaluated the amounts and implications of changes in habitat connectivity on rural land-scapes by modeling the colonization success and subsequent habitat colonization of a model edge organism within real landscapes. We first inventoried the changes in the fencerow and forest-edge network of two contiguous Ohio (U.S.

ROLE OF MYCORRHIZAL FUNGUS ORIGIN IN GROWTH AND NUTRIENT UPTAKE BY GERANIUM ROBERTIANUM.

Prior field studies have shown that populations of forest herbs on relatively nutrient poor soils have higher vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) infection intensity than plants on rich soils. However, the growth responses and ability to take up P against the soil nutrient gradient are often not linearly related to infection intensity. To determine if intraspecific differences among populations of the common VAM fungus Glomus occultum could differentially affect growth and nutrient uptake, Geranium robertianum seedlings were inoculated with Glomus occultum isolated from four forest types along a gradient of soil fertility, and grown in a greenhouse at P levels typical of the extremes of that gradient.

Correlations of understory herb distribution patterns with microhabitats under different tree species in a mixed mesophytic forest.

This study examines the role of canopy trees in the formation and maintenance of different herb microhabitats in a mixed mesophytic forest stand. Herb abundance and reproductive success were recorded in 54 circular plots under seven species of canopy trees and in 15 circular control plots>2 m from any tree. Soil moisture, soil nutrient levels, litter depth, and light intensity were measured in a subset of these plots.