US Forest Service
  
Treesearch

Pacific Southwest Research Station

 
 

US Forest Service
P.O. Box 96090
Washington, D.C.
20090-6090

(202) 205-8333

USA.gov  Government Made Easy

Publication Information

Title: Nitrogen dynamics of spring-fed wetland ecosystems of the Sierra Nevada foothills oak woodland

Author: Jackson, Randall D.; Allen-Diaz, Barbara

Date: 2002

Source: In: Standiford, Richard B., et al, tech. editor. Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on Oak Woodlands: Oaks in California's Challenging Landscape. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-184, Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: 119-129

Station ID: GTR-PSW-184

Description: Spring-fed wetlands are small, highly productive, patchy ecosystems nested within the oak woodland/annual grassland matrix of the Sierra Nevada foothills. In an effort to place these wetlands in a landscape context, we described seasonal variation (1999-2000 growing season) in nitrogen cycling parameters at 6 spring-fed wetland sites of the Sierra Nevada foothill oak woodlands. Ammonium and nitrate pool sizes covaried inversely with nitrate dominance (about 3 μg N g dry soil-1) in autumn/winter during plant dormancy and ammonium dominance (about 6 μg N gds-1) in spring/summer when wetland plants were beginning yearly production cycles. Nitrate is highly mobile in the vadose zone, but can accumulate in the absence of plant growth during dry summer months in the annual grasslands surrounding these wetland systems. With the onset of autumn rains, much of this nitrate may be flushed down slope to spring systems. Spring-fed wetlands may act as either as sources, sinks, or as transformers of this exogenously derived nitrogen.

View and Print this Publication (900 KB)

Publication Notes:

Evaluate this Publication

Citation

Jackson, Randall D.; Allen-Diaz, Barbara  2002.  Nitrogen dynamics of spring-fed wetland ecosystems of the Sierra Nevada foothills oak woodland  In: Standiford, Richard B., et al, tech. editor. Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on Oak Woodlands: Oaks in California's Challenging Landscape. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-184, Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: 119-129.

US Forest Service - Research & Development
Last Modified:  May 13, 2008


USDA logo which links to the department's national site. Forest Service logo which links to the agency's national site.