Sustainability and whole tree harvesting: evaluation of site mapping results in Lower Saxony.

摘要

The use of biomass fuel made of wood has increased within the last years. The nutrient exports by full-tree harvesting are several times higher than by conventional stem-only harvesting. The evaluation of nutrient transfers is necessary to achieve conservation of site productivity. With the nutrient depletion index a method to evaluate forest sites by relating the pool of plant available cations of different site index classes with nutrient exports is provided. Conventional stem-only harvesting and full tree harvesting are compared regarding different tree species (pine, spruce, beech) and the soil content of exchangeable K, Ca and Mg. Using the site mapping units a decision system for different exploitation intensities was developed.