The effect of stand age on the accumulation of nutrients in the aboveground components of an Aleppo pine ecosystem |
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| Institution: | 1. INECOA-CONICET-UNJu, San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina;2. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Jujuy, San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina;3. Laboratorio de Investigación de Sistemas Ecológicos y Ambientales, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina;4. Departamento de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Luján, Argentina;5. VICAM: Vicuñas, camelids and environment, Argentina;6. CONICET: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (National Research Council), Argentina;1. Universidad Simón Rodríguez (USR), Instituto de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos IDECYT, Av. Mara Altos del Cují, San Antonio de los Altos, estado Miranda, Apdo 47925, Venezuela;2. CSIC-Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura, Department of Soil and Water Conservation, P.O. Box 164, Campus de Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain;3. Departamento de Biología Aplicada, Área de Botánica, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Avda. De la Universidad s/n., 03202 Elche, Alicante, Spain;4. Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles 28933, Spain |
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| Abstract: | Nutrient dynamics of an Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis, Mill.) ecosystem located in the Kassandra peninsula, Central Macedonia, Northern Greece, were studied using a chronosequence approach. The nutrient composition of the Aleppo pine trees, the understory evergreen broadleaves and forest floor in adjacent stands of 23, 48, 70 and over 100 years old was determined to estimate postfire nutrient losses. The concentration of nutrients in the Aleppo pine trees, except of Ca, was reduced with increasing stand age. Ca was the most abundant nutrient in the aboveground vegetation and in forest litter, followed by N, K, Mg and P. The accumulation of nutrients in the aboveground biomass was positively related to stand age. For younger stands nutrient accumulation was considerably larger in the understory vegetation as compared to the pines, due to substantial enhancement of the understory biomass and the number of understory species present. In middle-aged stands, however, nutrient accumulation in the understory and overstory vegetation reached a balance. In addition, considerable quantities of nutrients have been accumulated in the forest floor particularly in stands of 48 years old. Therefore, any destruction during the period of maximum nutrient accumulation in the forest floor will cause degradation of the ecosystem. It is postulated that the competition for nutrients between overstory and understory vegetation may be as important as competition in soil. Forest management practices leading to the direct conversion of the understory biomass into littermass would be of great significance for the sustainability of the Aleppo pine ecosystem. |
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