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USGS · 70011578

Nutrient loss accelerated by clear-cutting of a forest ecosystem

F.H. Bormann·G.E. Likens·D.W. Fisher·R.S. Pierce
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Abstract

The forest of a small watershed-ecosystem was cut in order to determine the effects of removal of vegetation on nutrient cycles. Relative to undisturbed ecosystems, the cut ecosystem exhibited accelerated loss of nutrients: nitrogen lost during the first year after cutting was equivalent to the amount annually turned over in an undisturbed system, and losses of cations were 3 to 20 times greater than from comparable undisturbed systems. Possible causes of the pattern of nutrient loss from the cut ecosystem are discussed.

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F.H. Bormann, G.E. Likens, D.W. Fisher, R.S. Pierce. 1968. Nutrient loss accelerated by clear-cutting of a forest ecosystem. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.159.3817.882

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