Effect of elemental sulphur on the vegetation of a Lodgepole pine stand.
Shrub and herb cover decreased 98% and diversity 76% after particulate elemental sulphur was deposited in a Pinus contorta Loudon var. latifolia Engelm. forest in west-central Alberta, Canada. Decreases were measured over four years and, initially, were greater for the herbs than they were for the shrubs. The decline in the herbs occurred one year before decreases in half the shrub species. The dramatic decline of the vegetation appeared related to the changes in the soil chemistry of the surface organic horizon following the oxidation of elemental sulphur.
Kennedy
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Northern Forestry Centre, 5320-122 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6H 3S5.
Addison
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Maynard
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