Detailed process-level and community-level studies will beconducted on decomposing logs that are part of a long-term logdecay study centered at the H.J. Andrews LTER site in Oregon. Specifically, the research will focus on completing threeresearch tasks. First, a two-year study of nutrient dynamics infour species of decaying logs will be finished. Data on changesin nutrient content of the logs will be integrated withinformation on nutrient inputs through processes such as nitrogenfixation, and outputs through processes such as fragmentation andleaching. Second, logs set in the field 1985, will be studied todetermine nitrogen fixation, fungal community distribution andenzyme activity associated with the decomposer community. Thiseffort will complete a study of seasonal patterns in log decay. And third, analyses of terpene and phenol content of the logs setout in 1985, will be completed. Some of these compounds arethought to serve as attractants for wood-boring insects and/or asinhibitors of decomposition. The significance of this research is that it will help us tounderstand the role of log decay in nutrient cycling in forestecosystem. In old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest,downed logs and other woody debris comprise up to 22% of above-ground organic mass (live and dead organic matter) and 81% ofaboveground detritus. This large mass of dead woody material maywell serve as an important storehouse of nutrients and regulatorof nutrient dynamics in these forest systems. Dr. Showalter and his colleagues have good records ofproductivity in this research area. The institutional supportavailable to them is superior.
