CHED 1084 |
| The Chester River Field Research Center in Maryland is the site of a 92-ha grassland restoration project. It became part of the Conservation Reserve Program in 1998 and was drill-seeded with warm-season grasses in the spring of 1999. Prescribed burns in April 2003, November 2004 and March 2006 were used to manage the field. In previously conducted studies, soil cations and cation exchange capacity were analyzed. The current study focuses on the effects of prescribed burns on soil nitrogen content, as it is essential for plant growth. A 13-ha plot within the field was chosen to take 25 cores before and after each burn. The top 5 cm of each core were investigated for total nitrogen content using the Kjeldahl method with a block digester. It is expected that total soil nitrogen levels will decrease with each subsequent burn because of excess litter accumulation and decreases in denitrification and mineralization. |
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Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Environmental Chemistry
2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster
Division of Chemical Education |