ABSTRACT
Long-term impacts of forestry practices on forest production, nutrient cycling, and ecosystem dynamics are still not well understood today. Concerns have been expressed that nutrient removal associated with clearcut harvesting operations alone, or in combination with other processes associated with site disturbance, may deplete nutrient reserves in forests. This chapter aim to determine potential nutrient removals from sites associated with specific harvesting prescriptions when applied to uneven-aged stands in a black spruce swamp in the Lake Abitibi Model Forest. Nutrient content of the components was calculated by multiplying their biomass and nutrient concentration. Nutrient removals, estimated from the biomass and nutrient component data, were examined for significance of difference among different harvesting methods by Student t-Test. Nutrient release from decomposition of fresh litter is much faster than from decomposing peats, even in boreal forests. Nutrient losses could be significantly reduced with a conventional harvesting system by which only merchantable stems are extracted from the stands.
