Miller, Richard E.; Lavender, Denis P.; Grier, Charles C. 1976. Nutrient cycling in the Douglas-fir type--silvicultural implications. In: Proceedings, 1975 annual convention, Society of American Foresters; 359-390.
During the development of a forest community, substantial amounts ofnutrient elements are taken up, accumulated, and lost by the stand. With-out disturbance or unfavorable environment, elements cycle in a relativelyorderly fashion with nutrients returned to the soil from vegetation--andthen recycled--supplying a large portion of the stand's continuing nutrientrequirements. Within the nutrient cycle, however, a number of criticalprocesses are affected by forest management practices.
Our objectives in this paper about coastal Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco var. menziesii) forests are: (1) describe nutrientcycling, (2) focus special attention on critical processes in this nutrientcycle, and (3) show how various silvicultural treatments can affect standnutrition by altering nutrient cycling. We shall deal primarily withnitrogen cycling since nitrogen is normally the critical nutrient limitinggrowth in the Douglas-fir region. We shall also mention cycling of potas-sium because of its distinctly different pattern of behavior in nutrientcycling.