COMPARISON OF NITROGEN MINERALIZATION IN FOREST FLOOR MATERIALS USING AEROBIC AND ANAEROBIC INCUBATION AND BIOASSAY TECHNIQUES

Forest floors dominated by F materials mineralized more N and had higher k values than those dominated by H. Plant N uptake in the bioassay was highly correlated with N mineralized during laboratory incubations across all forest floors but was 50-80% lower than predictions based on first-order kinetic parameters derived from the aerobic incubation. The relationship between bioassay plant uptake and predicted N mineralization differed among forest floors, indicating that the effect of plants on dynamics of the mineralizable N pool differs among organic matter types. Forest floor morphology may provide a basis for assessing site quality. -from Authors