Quantitative characterization of field-estimated soil nutrient regimes in the coastal forest

• Main Authors: Klinka, Karel, Varga, Pal, Chourmouzis, Christine
• Language: English
• Published: Forest Sciences Department, University of British Columbia 2008
• Subjects: Carbon; Classification; Coastal Western hemlock zone; Site index; Site quality; Soil nutrient regime; Soil nutrients; Nitrogen; Western hemlock
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/702

One of the key factors in the site classification of the biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification is soil nutrient regime. Soil nutrient regime (SNR) represents the amount of essential soil nutrients available to plants over a period of several years. SNRs classes are assessed based on field identifiable (qualitative) criteria, not using quantitative measures. There have been several studies that attempted to quantitatively characterize regional soil nutrient gradients in the Coastal Western Hemlock (CWH) zone. In the study summarized here, the soils are influenced by a perhumid cool mesothermal climate. The objective of the study was to examine relationships between soil chemical properties and field-estimated SNRs.