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PARTIAL DEFORESTATION AND SHORT‐TERM AUTOCHTHONOUS ENERGY INPUT TO A SMALL NEW ENGLAND STREAM 1
Author(s) -
Mullen Dennis M.,
Moring John R.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1988.tb03047.x
Subject(s) - logging , riparian zone , watershed , periphyton , tributary , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , deforestation (computer science) , streams , nutrient , slash (logging) , vegetation (pathology) , ecology , forestry , geography , geology , biology , geotechnical engineering , machine learning , habitat , computer science , programming language , medicine , pathology , computer network , cartography
Autochthonous energy input, in the form of periphyton production and growth, was studied before and after partial logging of the watershed surrounding School Brook, a small tributary of the Aroostook River, Maine. Due to infection by the spruce budworm ( Chiristoneura fumiferana ), the buffer strip on one bank of the stream was logged and only limited riparian vegetation was left. Though impacts in subsequent years are unknown, the effect of the logging on the periphyton community was insignificant during the nine months following cutting, seemingly due to several factors. Because only 5 percent of the canopy was actually removed, the intensity of available light changed little. Small springs in the area helped maintain a stable thermal regime, and only a small portion of the low gradient watershed was actually logged. Consequently, the nutrients reaching the stream did not change. The relatively low concentrations of nitrates (< 0.3 mg/l) and phosphates (< 10 μg/l), both before and in the first nine months after logging, reflect the limited autochthonous input, thereby reducing the effect of this limited cutting on the stream community.