Teuvo Levula

Wood-ash fertilization and fire treatments in a Scots pine forest stand: Effects on the organic layer, microbial biomass, and microbial activity

We studied the reactions of humus layer (F/H) microbial respiratory activity, microbial biomass C, and the fungal biomass, measured as the soil ergosterol content, to the application of three levels of wood ash (1000, 2500, and 5000 kg ha-1) and to fire treatment in a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stand. Physicochemical measurements (pH, organic matter content, extractable and total C content, NH4+and total N content, cation-exchange capacity, base saturation) showed similarity between the fire-treated plots and those treated with the lowest dose of wood ash (1000 kg ha-1). The ash application did not change the level of microbial biomass C or fungal ergosterol when compared to the control, being around 7500 and 350 μg g-1 organic matter for the biomass C and ergosterol, respectively. The fire treatment lowered the values of both biomass measurements to about half that of the control values. The fire treatment caused a sevenfold fall in the respiration rate of fieldmoist soil to 1.8 μl h-1 g-1 organic matter compared to the values of the control or ash treatments. However, in the same soils adjusted to a water-holding capacity of 60%, the differences between the fire treatment and the control were diminished, and the ash-fertilized plots were characterized by a higher respiration rate compared to the control plots. The glucose-induced respiration reacted in the same way as the water-adjusted soil respiration. The metabolic quotient, qCO2, gradually increased from the control level with increasing applications of ash, reaching a maximum in the fire treatment. Nitrification was not observed in the treatment plots.

Resistance of Scots pine wood to Brown-rot fungi after long-term forest fertilization

The susceptibility of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) sap- and heartwood against the wood decaying brown-rot fungus (Coniophora puteana) was investigated after long-term forest fertilization at three different sites in central Finland. Different wood properties: wood extractives, wood chemistry, and wood anatomy were used to explain sap- and heartwood decay. Scots pine sapwood was more susceptible to decay than its heartwood. In one site, sapwood seemed to be more resistant to wood decay after forest fertilization whereas the susceptibility of heartwood increased. Significant changes in the sapwood chemistry were found between treatment and sites, however, no relationship between wood chemistry and wood decay was observed in the factor analysis. The results of this study show that there was an inconsistent relationship between decay susceptibility and fertilization and the measured physical and chemical attributes of the wood were not consistently correlated with the decay rate.

Effect of Long-Term Forest Fertilization on Scots Pine Xylem Quality and Wood Borer Performance

We tested whether changes in long-term nutrient availability would affect the xylem quality and characteristics of Scots pine trees as a food source for the larvae of the xylophagous wood borer Hylotrupes bajulus L. (Cerambycidae). We looked for an effect of host plant growth and xylem structural traits on H. bajulus larval performance, and looked for delayed effects of long-term forest fertilization on xylem chemical quality. In general, larval performance was dependent on larval developmental stage. However, the growth of larvae also varied with host plant quality (increases in the concentration of nitrogen and carbon-based secondary compounds of xylem were correlated with a decrease in the larval growth rate). The greater annual growth of trees reduced tracheid length and correlated positively with second-instar H. bajulus growth rate. This is consistent with the hypothesis that intrinsic growth patterns of host plants influence the development of the xylophagous wood borer H. bajulus.

Prescribed Burning as a Soil Amelioration Measure

In Finland, attention first turned to the possibilities of using prescribed burning to promote forest regeneration at the end of the last century after reports of rather satisfactory stand development in areas subjected to slash-and-burn agriculture and forest fires (Heikinheimo 1915). The silvicultural use of prescribed burning flourished during two periods — in the 1920’s and during the 1950’s and 1960’s — when attempts were made to regenerate under-productive sites using prescribed burning, followed by sowing with Scots pine (Parviainen 1993). In the 1960’s, however, prescribed burning was rapidly replaced by mechanical site preparation methods. There were a number of practical problems associated with prescribed burning: the work schedule was dependent on the weather conditions, there was always a danger of the fire getting out of control, and there were fears that there would be an increase in nutrient leaching. Although there has since been a steady increase in this natural form of forest regeneration, there has been no major increase even during the past decade. The area treated annually by prescribed burning has, at its best, amounted to only a few thousand hectares.