New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
Measuring woody debris in the small streams of New Zealand's pine
plantations
BRENDA R. BAILLIE
TINA L. CUMMINS
Liro
Private Bag 3020
Rotorua, New Zealand
email: brenda.baillie@fri.cri.nz
MARK O. KIMBERLEY
New Zealand Forest Research Limited
Private Bag 3020
Rotorua, New Zealand
Abstract To assess the impact of harvesting on woody debris
volumes in streams, a method was required with sufficient precision to provide
meaningful evaluation and comparison of pre- and post-harvest levels of woody
debris. Before harvest, woody debris volumes were measured in 24 first- to
third-order stream sites in New Zealand's mature pine plantations (22-34 years
of age). An adaptation of the Van Wagner line intersect method was used to
measure the small woody debris 1-9 cm in diameter (SWD). All large woody
debris >=10 cm in diameter (LWD) was measured for diameter and length.
Woody debris volumes in the stream channel ranged from 2 to 345
m
3 ha
-1, averaging 112
m
3 ha
-1 (+/-34, 95% confidence interval (CI)). Woody
debris surface areas averaged 2883 m
2 ha
-1 (+/-688),
range 220-6769 m
2 ha
-1. Most of the woody debris
volume (87%) was composed of LWD. Sixty-seven percent of the woody debris
volume was located above the stream, the remainder was lying in-stream or on
the floodplain. Woody debris volumes in streams of mature pine plantations in
New Zealand were similar to woody debris volumes in streams of temperate native
forests in New Zealand and North America. These sites will be remeasured after
harvest to identify any changes in woody debris characteristics.
Keywords woody debris; large woody debris; New Zealand; pine
plantation; stream
M98014
Received 16 April 1988; accepted 18 September 1998
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (764K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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