According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple, direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.

Out of the Crisis

We have developed a model to simulate the dynamics of C, N, P, and S in cultivated and uncultivated grassland soils. The model uses a monthly time step and can simulate the dynamics of soil organic matter over long time periods (100 to 10,000 years). It was used to simulate the impact of cultivation (100 years) on soil organic matter dynamics, nutrient mineralization, and plant production and to simulate soil formation during a 10,000 year run. The model was validated by comparing the simulated impact of cultivation on soil organic matter C, N, P, and S dynamics with observed data from sites in the northern Great Plains. The model correctly predicted that N and P are the primary limiting nutrients for plant production and simulated the response of the system to inorganic N, P, and S fertilizer. Simulation results indicate that controlling the C:P and C:S ratios of soil organic matter fractions as functions of the labile P and S levels respectively, allows the model to correctly simulate the observed changes in C:P and C:S ratios in the soil and to simulate the impact of varying the labile P and S levels on soil P and S net mineralization rates.

Dynamics of C, N, P and S in grassland soils: a model

This manual is a compilation of methods used for soil and plant analysis at the Analytical Services Laboratory of the Northern Forestry Centre (NoFC) of Forestry Canada's Northwest Region. The intent of this manual is not so much to recom­ mend certain procedures over others, but to indicate methods used in our labora­ tory, why these methods are used, their expected precision and accuracy, and their strengths and weaknesses. RESUME Sont reunies dans Ie present guide les methodes utilisees pour l'analyse des plantes et des sols au Laboratoire des services d' analyse du Centre de foresterie du Nord de Forets Canada (region du Nord-Ouest). L' objectif de ce guide n' est pas tant de recommander certaines methodes de preference a d'autres, mais d'indiquer celles qui sont utilisees dans notre laboratorre, la raison de leur utilisation, I' exact­ itude et la precision que I' on peut attendre de leurs resultats, leurs points forts et leurs points faibles. /nf. Rep. NOR-X-3/9 iii iv In! Rep. NOR-X-319

/pdf/methods-manual-for-forest-soil-and-plant-analysis-46mwq7zn6f.pdf

Methods manual for forest soil and plant analysis

Although soil microorganisms play a central role in the soil processes that determine nutrient availability and productivity of forest ecosystems, we are only beginning to understand how microbial communities are shaped by environmental factors and how the structure and function of soil microbial communities in turn influence rates of key soil processes. Here we compare the structure and function of soil microbial communities in seven mature, undisturbed forest types across a range of regional climates in British Columbia and Alberta, and examine the variation in community composition within forest types. We collected the forest floor fermentation (F) and humus (H) layers and upper 10 cm of mineral soil at 3 sites in each of seven forest types (corresponding to seven Biogeoclimatic zones) in both spring and summer. Phospholipid fatty acid analysis was used to investigate the structure of soil microbial communities and total soil microbial biomass; potential activities of extra-cellular enzymes indicated the functional potential of the soil microbial community in each layer at each site. Multivariate analysis indicated that both structure and enzyme activities of soil microbial communities differed among the forest types, and significantly separated along the regional climate gradient, despite high local variation. Soil moisture and organic matter contents were most closely related to microbial community characteristics. Forests in the Ponderosa Pine and Mountain Hemlock zones were distinct from other forests and from each other when comparing potential enzyme activities and had the most extreme moisture and temperature values. Forest floors from the hot and dry Ponderosa Pine forests were associated with enzymes characteristic of water-stress and high concentrations of phenols and other recalcitrant compounds. The wet and cold Mountain Hemlock forests were associated with low enzyme activity. An influence of tree species was apparent at the three sites within the Coastal Western Hemlock zone; high bacterial:fungal biomass ratios were found under western redcedar (Thuja plicata) which also had high pH and base-cation levels, and under Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), which had high N availability. Potential activities enzymes differed among soil layers: potential activities of phenol oxidase and peroxidase were highest in mineral soil, whereas phosphatase, betaglucosidase, NAGase, sulfatase, xylosidase and cellobiohydrolase were highest in the forest floors.

Soil moisture is the major factor influencing microbial community structure and enzyme activities across seven biogeoclimatic zones in western Canada

The boreal forest, one of the largest biomes on Earth, provides ecosystem services that benefit society at levels ranging from local to global. Currently, about two-thirds of the area covered by this biome is under some form of management, mostly for wood production. Services such as climate regulation are also provided by both the unmanaged and managed boreal forests. Although most of the boreal forests have retained the resilience to cope with current disturbances, projected environmental changes of unprecedented speed and amplitude pose a substantial threat to their health. Management options to reduce these threats are available and could be implemented, but economic incentives and a greater focus on the boreal biome in international fora are needed to support further adaptation and mitigation actions.

https://www.alachuacounty.us/Depts/epd/EPAC/AAAS%20Boreal%20forest%20health%20and%20global%20change%20-%20819.full.pdf

Boreal forest health and global change

Nitrate and Exchangeable Ammonium Nitrogen

The boreal zone and its ecosystems provide numerous provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. Because of its resources and its hydroelectric potential, Canada’s boreal zone is important to the country’s resource-based economy. The region presently occupied by Canada’s boreal zone has experienced dramatic changes during the past 3 million years as the climate cooled and repeated glaciations affected both the biota and the landscape. For about the past 7000 years, climate, fire, insects, diseases, and their interactions have been the most important natural drivers of boreal ecosystem dynamics, including rejuvenation, biogeochemical cycling, maintenance of productivity, and landscape variability. Layered upon natural drivers are changes increasingly caused by people and development and those related to human-caused climate change. Effects of these agents vary spatially and temporally, and, as global population increases, the demands and impacts on ecosystems will likely increase. Understanding how humans directly affect terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in Canada’s boreal zone and how these effects and actions interact with natural disturbance agents is a prerequisite for informed and adaptive decisions about management of natural resources, while maintaining the economy and environment upon which humans depend. This paper reports on the genesis and present condition of the boreal zone and its ecosystems and sets the context for a detailed scientific investigation in subsequent papers published in this journal on several key aspects: carbon in boreal forests; climate change consequences, adaptation, and mitigation; nutrient and elemental cycling; protected areas; status, impacts, and risks of non-native species; factors affecting sustainable timber harvest levels; terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity; and water and wetland resources.

An introduction to Canada’s boreal zone: ecosystem processes, health, sustainability, and environmental issues

Humus in northern forests: friend or foe?

Net mineralization of sulfur and nitrogen was studied in three Canadian Prairie soils using two commonly used incubation methods. In the open system technique, where the soils were leached periodically II.3n11.8 m g SO 2m 4n-S g m1nsoil was mineralized in 17 weeks. Little mineralization or a net immobilization of sulfur (from 1.4 to 1.3 m g SO 2m 4-S g m1nsoil) was observed in a closed system where the soils were left undisturbed throughout incubation. Changes in the specific activity ofn 35S-labelled soil solution sulfate during the closed incubation indicated that mineralization-immobilization processes were occurring simultaneously resulting in minimal net changes in CaCl 2-extractable SO 2m 4nconcentrations. The amounts of mineralized nitrogen (32.6n57.8 mg N g m1nsoil) were found to be independent of the incubation method employed.

Sulfur and nitrogen mineralization in soils compared using two incubation techniques

Changes in the mineralization of S and in the redistribution of 35S-labelled sulfate among organic matter fractions were followed during incubation of cropped and uncropped soils. Net mineralization was significantly greater in cropped soils compared with uncropped soils. The distribution of 35S was significantly influenced by the addition of sulfate or cellulose or a combination of both and by the presence of plants. When the solution sulfate level was high the majority of 35S incorporated into soil organic matter was found in the Hi-reducible S fraction. When soil solution sulfate concentrations were lowered by plant uptake or through addition of cellulose there was a reduction in the 35S incorporated into the HI-reducible S fraction.

D. G. Maynard

Papers

Nitrate and Exchangeable Ammonium Nitrogen

An introduction to Canada’s boreal zone: ecosystem processes, health, sustainability, and environmental issues

Humus in northern forests: friend or foe?

Sulfur and nitrogen mineralization in soils compared using two incubation techniques

The effects of plants on soil sulfur transformations