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Soil Microbial Biomass: Determination and Reaction to Burning and Ash Fertilization

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Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia

Part of the book series: Forestry Sciences ((FOSC,volume 48))

Abstract

Soil microbes and invertebrates are essential for nutrient cycling, and microbial biomass in soil determines the rate of organic matter turnover. Although soil microbial biomass carbon constitutes only a small percentage of soil organic carbon, e.g. 1.19% in coniferous forest soil (Martikainen and Palojärvi 1990), the contribution of soil microbes to nutrient mineralization is notable. Living trees require a constant supply of mineral nutrients which are formed in the decomposition process carried out by microbes. Consequently, microbes play a major role in silviculture and timber production. In boreal coniferous forests, litter tends to accumulate on the forest floor indicating slow microbial litter decomposition. The rate of decomposition is not limited by the amount of soil organic carbon, which is present in large amounts; in fact the quality of organic matter is more important to decomposers than the quantity. A significant proportion of the soil organic carbon is recalcitrant, and microbial biomass may be limited by the forms of organic carbon present rather than by the absolute amount (Wardle 1992).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Ecology, Finnish Forest Research Institute, FIN-01301, Vantaa, Finland

    J. Pietikäinen & H. Fritze

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  1. J. Pietikäinen
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  2. H. Fritze
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry-Freiburg University, Mainz-Freiburg, Germany

    Johann Georg Goldammer

  2. V.N. Sukachev Institute of Forestry and Timber, Russian Academy of Sciences, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

    Valentin V. Furyaev

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© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Pietikäinen, J., Fritze, H. (1996). Soil Microbial Biomass: Determination and Reaction to Burning and Ash Fertilization. In: Goldammer, J.G., Furyaev, V.V. (eds) Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia. Forestry Sciences, vol 48. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8737-2_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8737-2_29

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4725-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-015-8737-2

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