PROCEEDINGS: Index of Abstracts

CATION DEPLETION IN NEW ENGLAND FORESTS

Richard Hallett-1 and James Hornbeck-2

1-Complex Systems Research Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824. 2-USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Durham, NH 03824.

Preliminary results are presented from a case study designed to evaluate the potential for cation depletion in low-elevation forest soils of northern New England and New York. Samples of foliage, wood, and soils were collected in August, 1993 from plots with deep sandy soils that had previously been cleared or harvested and are now dominated by mature stands of either red oak or white pine. Plots were located in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts. Planned and/or completed analyses include extractable and total nutrients for soils, total nutrients in foliage, and extractable nutrients in wood. Nutrients include Ca, Mg, K, Fe, Mn, Al, N, and P. Results presented here include nutrient values in green foliage sampled from upper and middle layers of the canopy.