Biological dinitrogen fixation in temperate zone forestry: current use and future potential

Abstract

Biological dinitrogen fixation (BNF) occurs in most managed temperate forests, and thus is a part of the application of most silvicultural systems. Often, however, the presence of BNF is not explicitly recognized or used by foresters, even though several recent symposia and books indicate that their interest in BNF and its use is increasing, (e.g. Gordon et al. 1980, Dawson, in press, Gordon and Wheeler, 1983.) In the long view, in addition to recognizing the presence of BNF and being sensitive to it when making silvicultural prescriptions, the large- scale use of introduced nitrogen-fixers is a primary target for both basic and applied forestry research. The three primary reasons for this are economic. First, natural gas, the basis for industrially-fixed nitrogen, is new artificially lew in cost because of regulation, and Haber-process ammonia produced with underpriced natural gas is even lower because of current world overcapacity. Neither the lew gas prices nor the overcapacity can be expected to persist a long time relative to forest production cycles (Beuter 1980). Second, the use of industrially-fixed nitrogen can be expected, under conditions of future scarcity, to be allocated tofood, rather than forest production.