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Science 23 February 1968:
Vol. 159. no. 3817, pp. 882 - 884
DOI: 10.1126/science.159.3817.882
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Articles

Nutrient Loss Accelerated by Clear-Cutting of a Forest Ecosystem

F. H. Bormann 1, G. E. Likens 2, D. W. Fisher 3, and R. S. Pierce 4

1 School of Forestry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
2 Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755
3 U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C. 20025
4 Northeastern Forest Experimental Station, U.S. Forest Service, Durham, New Hampshire

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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