Biomass and nutrient cycle in fertilized and unfertilized pine, mixed birch and pine and spruce stands on a drained mire.

Abstract

Biomass, biomass increment and nutrient cycling were studied in (1) a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) stand, (2) a Norway spruce (Picea abies) stand and (3) a mixed birch (Betula pubescens)/pine stand on a drained mire at Ilomantsi, eastern Finland in 1979-85. In addition, the effect of NPK and micronutrient fertilizer treatment was studied. Above-ground and root measurements were taken. These data formed the basis of stand biomass and nutrient cycle simulations of fertilized and unfertilized stands. The increases in biomass were greater in (1) and (2) in the fertilized simulation than in the unfertilized one. For (3), the effect of fertilization on biomass increment was small. In six years only part of the applied fertilizer had been fixed in the biomass of the model stands and proportionally less micronutrients than macronutrients. The potassium stores were small compared to the nutrient amounts fixed by the stands. This supports the notion that there is a shortage of potassium on deep-peat soils.