Aboveground biomass production and nutrient accumulation on postharvested white spruce sites in interior Alaska

Nutrient content and biomass of aboveground annual production, and nutrient content of total aboveground biomass, of 14-year-old assemblages of plants developing on harvested white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) sites were estimated by vegetation harvesting and compared with values previously measured in mature white spruce stands. The aboveground biomass production of 14-year-old regenerating trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) clumps was 3 times higher than the aboveground production of mature white spruce stands, while the aboveground production of other regenerating communities was lower or equivalent to the production of mature white spruce. However, the nutrient content of aboveground current biomass was greater in all regenerating communities than in mature white spruce stands, except on regenerating sites where the forest floor was absent. The amount of nutrient incorporated in current aboveground biomass was 5 times greater in trembling aspen clumps than in mature white spruce stands. Furthermore, the total N, P, and K content of aboveground vegetation corresponded, in 14-year-old trembling aspen clumps, to a value that ranged from 50 to 109% of the amount found in the aboveground biomass of mature white spruce forests, while this value ranged from 4 to 14% on other regeneration types. Trembling aspen and balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera L.) both showed the greatest concentrations of N and P in foliar litter fall. These observations suggest that the development of a trembling aspen clump after clear-cutting contributes to the acceleration of nutrient cycling. On the other hand, the development of herbaceous communities during the same period after clear-cutting was accompanied by much lower nutrient cycling rates in the aboveground portion of the vegetation.