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Rights Statements InC/1.0 , Open Access
Journal article
The effect of multi-nutrient fertilization on understory plant diversity
Northwest science., Vol.74(4), pp.316-324
2000
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/1010
Abstract
An examination was made of multi-nutrient fertilization effects on understorey vegetation diversity at 8 forested locations in the inland Northwest USA - 3 in Idaho, and 1 each in Oregon and Washington. Percentage canopy covered by understorey plant species of 3 growth forms (shrubs, forbs, grasses) and total understorey were determined over a 2-yr period following treatment with a mixture of N, K, S, Cu and B (all treatments), with added Zn, Mo or Zn, Mo, P (2 treatments each). Two diversity indices (the Shannon-Wiener and Simpson's indexes) were used to quantify multi-nutrient fertilization effects on understorey plant diversity. Multi-nutrient fertilization prescribed to increase overstorey tree growth did not typically reduce understorey vegetation diversity, rather diversity increased following fertilization on some sites. Understorey composition at the time of treatment greatly determined fertilization effects on diversity: (1) if most species in the plant community responded relatively the same after treatment, then diversity was unchanged even though total biomass increase may have been large; (2) if a highly responsive species was abundant prior to treatment, then diversity decreased following fertilization; and (3) if a highly responsive species was relatively rare prior to treatment, then diversity increased following fertilization. Multi-nutrient forest fertilization generally did not affect understorey plant diversity, but where changes did occur, diversity increases were more common than decreases.
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Details
- Title
- The effect of multi-nutrient fertilization on understory plant diversity
- Creators
- Curtis L. VanderSchaaf (Author)James A. Moore (Author)James L. Kingery (Author)
- Publication Details
- Northwest science., Vol.74(4), pp.316-324
- Academic Unit
- Northwest Science
- Publisher
- WSU Press
- Identifiers
- 99900502652401842
- Copyright
- In copyright ; openAccess ; http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ ; http://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/OpenAccess
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article