| The primary objectives of this study were to identify the contributions of the forest floor organic horizons to inorganic nutrient (N, P, and S) loadings into natural waters, and to determine whether or not biomass reduction techniques have an impact on these contributions. The first chapter of this thesis introduces the results from an indoor leaching experiment that was conducted in February 2005. The indoor study consisted of mist and snowmelt leaching through mixed conifer forest floor O horizon monoliths, and subsequent analysis of leachate for inorganic N (NH4+ and NO3 -) and P (PO43-) forms. The misting experiment was intended to provide a controlled environment within which the findings from our field study, conducted in a similar vegetative and geographic area of the eastern Sierra Nevada, could be corroborated. The second chapter of this thesis details the findings of a North Lake Tahoe field study, and discusses the implications of the results. The field study involved the collection of overland/litter interflow, rainfall, and snowfall in untreated control areas, and those affected by prescribed fire and/or mechanical forest harvest techniques. Field samples were also analyzed for N(NH4 + and NO3-) and P (PO4 3-), and additionally for inorganic S(SO42-). |
