Canadian Forest Service Publications
Contribution of feeding by European pine sawfly larvae to litter production and element flux in Scots pine plantations. 1985. Fogal, W.H.; Slansky, F., Jr. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 15(3): 484-487.
Year: 1985
Issued by: Northern Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 23485
Language: English
Availability: Order paper copy (free), PDF (request by e-mail)
Abstract
The contribution of larvae of the European pine sawfly, Neodiprionsertifer (Geoff.), to litter fall and element input was determined in two contiguous 25-year-old plantations of Scots pine (Pinussylvestris L.) near Glencairn, Ont., in 1972. Tree spacings were 1.2 × 1.2 and 1.8 × 1.8 m. Tree diameters, numbers of needle-bearing branches per tree, and the number of larval colonies per tree were greater in the less dense plantation. On the other hand, there was no difference between plantations with respect to tree height, number of needles per branch, number of larvae per colony, or percent defoliation. For the denser and less dense plantations, frass was the largest insect-derived component of litter fall at 804 and 1255 kg ha-1, respectively; needles constituted the major tree component of litter fall at 1107 and 929 kg ha-1, respectively, and the total combined contribution of tree and insect material to litter fall was 2395 and 2744 kg ha-1, respectively. Average element input (kilograms per hectare) to the soil via frass for the two plantations was greatest for nitrogen (6.9), followed by potassium (5.0), calcium (4.1), phosphorus (0.8), and magnesium (0.6).