Early response of understory vegetation to wood ash fertilization in the sub boreal climatic zone of British Columbia
Wood ash can be used as a soil amendment in forest ecosystems to alleviate nutrient loss, ameliorate soil acidity, increase tree growth, and reduce landfilled waste. Two hybrid spruce (Picea glauca X engelmannii) plantations in interior British Columbia were treated with two types of bioenergy-produ...
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| Language: | English |
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Canadian Institute of Forestry
2019-09-01
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| Series: | The Forestry Chronicle |
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| Online Access: | https://pubs.cif-ifc.org/doi/10.5558/tfc2019-020 |
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| author | Saskia C. Hart Hugues B. Massicotte P. Michael Rutherford Ché M. Elkin Bruce J. Rogers |
| author_facet | Saskia C. Hart Hugues B. Massicotte P. Michael Rutherford Ché M. Elkin Bruce J. Rogers |
| author_sort | Saskia C. Hart |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Wood ash can be used as a soil amendment in forest ecosystems to alleviate nutrient loss, ameliorate soil acidity, increase tree growth, and reduce landfilled waste. Two hybrid spruce (Picea glauca X engelmannii) plantations in interior British Columbia were treated with two types of bioenergy-produced wood ash (high carbon boiler ash and low carbon gasifier ash) with or without nitrogen fertilizer in a two-way factorial block design. Ash and nitrogen treatments were applied to 8.0 m radius plots at a rate of 5000 kg ha-1 loose ash (dry basis), and 100 kg N ha-1 of urea in pellet form. Changes in understory vegetation cover were observed. There was a significant (p<0.05) effect of nitrogen and wood ash plus nitrogen application on understory vegetation community composition, with nitrogen application having the greatest effect. Discriminant function analysis indicated a differential response of species group to ash/ nitrogen treatments, though the effect size was small. We conclude that short-term changes to understory vegetation are minimal when these two ashes were applied at a rate of 5000 kg ha-1. Continued monitoring will determine if any long-term effects become apparent with time. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-94158aaa60bd44a691772dde6d35b5dc |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0015-7546 1499-9315 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-09-01 |
| publisher | Canadian Institute of Forestry |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Forestry Chronicle |
| spelling | doaj-art-94158aaa60bd44a691772dde6d35b5dc2025-08-20T03:57:39ZengCanadian Institute of ForestryThe Forestry Chronicle0015-75461499-93152019-09-01950213514210.5558/tfc2019-020Early response of understory vegetation to wood ash fertilization in the sub boreal climatic zone of British ColumbiaSaskia C. Hart0Hugues B. Massicotte1P. Michael Rutherford2Ché M. Elkin3Bruce J. Rogers4University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, BC V2N 4Z9 CanadaUniversity of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, BC V2N 4Z9 CanadaUniversity of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, BC V2N 4Z9 CanadaUniversity of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, BC V2N 4Z9 CanadaOmineca Research and Stewardship Team, British Columbia Ministry of Forests Lands and Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, Prince George, BC V2N 4W5 CanadaWood ash can be used as a soil amendment in forest ecosystems to alleviate nutrient loss, ameliorate soil acidity, increase tree growth, and reduce landfilled waste. Two hybrid spruce (Picea glauca X engelmannii) plantations in interior British Columbia were treated with two types of bioenergy-produced wood ash (high carbon boiler ash and low carbon gasifier ash) with or without nitrogen fertilizer in a two-way factorial block design. Ash and nitrogen treatments were applied to 8.0 m radius plots at a rate of 5000 kg ha-1 loose ash (dry basis), and 100 kg N ha-1 of urea in pellet form. Changes in understory vegetation cover were observed. There was a significant (p<0.05) effect of nitrogen and wood ash plus nitrogen application on understory vegetation community composition, with nitrogen application having the greatest effect. Discriminant function analysis indicated a differential response of species group to ash/ nitrogen treatments, though the effect size was small. We conclude that short-term changes to understory vegetation are minimal when these two ashes were applied at a rate of 5000 kg ha-1. Continued monitoring will determine if any long-term effects become apparent with time.https://pubs.cif-ifc.org/doi/10.5558/tfc2019-020bottom ashground vegetationwaste managementsoil amendmentbiodiversityhybrid spruce |
| spellingShingle | Saskia C. Hart Hugues B. Massicotte P. Michael Rutherford Ché M. Elkin Bruce J. Rogers Early response of understory vegetation to wood ash fertilization in the sub boreal climatic zone of British Columbia The Forestry Chronicle bottom ash ground vegetation waste management soil amendment biodiversity hybrid spruce |
| title | Early response of understory vegetation to wood ash fertilization in the sub boreal climatic zone of British Columbia |
| title_full | Early response of understory vegetation to wood ash fertilization in the sub boreal climatic zone of British Columbia |
| title_fullStr | Early response of understory vegetation to wood ash fertilization in the sub boreal climatic zone of British Columbia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Early response of understory vegetation to wood ash fertilization in the sub boreal climatic zone of British Columbia |
| title_short | Early response of understory vegetation to wood ash fertilization in the sub boreal climatic zone of British Columbia |
| title_sort | early response of understory vegetation to wood ash fertilization in the sub boreal climatic zone of british columbia |
| topic | bottom ash ground vegetation waste management soil amendment biodiversity hybrid spruce |
| url | https://pubs.cif-ifc.org/doi/10.5558/tfc2019-020 |
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