Research Applications
PRS® Probes have been used to study the impact of various forestry management practices, such as burning, fertilization, harvesting, and planting.
Examples
- Changes in soil chemical and biological properties after thinning and prescribed fire for ecosystem restoration in a Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir forest. Switzer et al. (2012) determined the effects of various fuel removal treatments on soil nutrient availability in the forest floor and mineral soil. The treatments were large pile, small pile, cut and leave, leave-tree and an unburned control. PRS® Probes were buried during the first two summers after fire and the overwinter period. Burning had large effects on soil supply rates of NO3-N (see figure below), and also influenced soil supply rates of Ca, Mg, K, P and S.
- Shrub Cover Influence on Seedling Growth and Survival Following Logging of a Tropical Forest
- Aboveground growth interactions of paired conifer seedlings in close proximity
- Factors affecting northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis) seedling establishment and early growth in mixedwood stands
- Shrubs affect soil nutrients availability with contrasting consequences for pasture understory and tree overstory production and nutrient status in Mediterranean grazed open woodlands
- Effects of fertilisation on phosphorus pools in the volcanic soil of a managed tropical forest
- Clearcut harvesting effects on soil and creek inorganic nitrogen in high elevation forests of southern interior British Columbia