Seasonal Variations in Ash Content of Some Michigan Forest Floor Fuels

Abstract

Samples from the forest floor litter and total ash content are needed in using the above layer were collected seasonally from under medium systems to predict fire behavior. Further, it is im- to fully stocked large sapling to sawtimber stands in portant for the fire manager to know whether ash Lower Michigan to study seasonal ash content content of litter varies from season to season. There- ' changes. The total ash and silica-free ash content°of fore, we conducted a study of the seasonal influence tree foliage in the upper part of the litter layer dif- on ash content for certain forest floor fuels in Lower fered little from season to season. Differences in ash Michigan. content due to species were generally more impor- tant than those due to season. The total ash content of an entire northern hardwood-oak-hickory forest METHODS litter layer increased significantly (0.01 level) through the year; however, siliCa-free ash content did not. The study was done in Ingham, Roscommon, and Bracken fern did not change significantly in either Wexford Counties. From the forest floor litter layer total ash or silica-free ash content, we collected leaves of 10 tree species: white oak (Quercus alba L.), northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.), northern pin oak (Quercus eUipsoidalis Hill),