Download or read book Soil Quality and Stream Channel Characteristics of Montane and Subalpine Riparian Meadows, Sierra Nevada, California written by Laura J. Jungst and published by ProQuest. This book was released on 2008 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Riparian meadows of the Western U.S. are crucial to sustaining aquatic habitat, water quality, water supply and carbon storage. The ability of riparian meadows to provide these services can be impacted by human uses and management. We investigated soil carbon and nitrogen quality and distribution in high elevation riparian meadows of the Sierra Nevada. Meadows were selected based on riparian conditions as defined by the Properly Functioning Condition method. Nineteen meadows in Stanislaus National Forest (SNF) were selected to represent four main categories within a range of conditions: properly functioning, at-risk and degraded. Soil physical and chemical characteristics were evaluated across each meadow at three slope positions: forest edge, mid-slope and streambank. Whole-solum composite samples were obtained by driving a sampler to a depth where unsorted parent material was present. Four soil samples located 10 m apart were homogenized resulting in a whole- solum composite sample from each slope position. A soil profile was described at each slope position. Channel width and average bankfull depth were measured for each stream. Our results show riparian meadows in SNF have high variation in soil and channel characteristics. Even so, meadows show trends related to condition. Functional meadows have over 40% more soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and soil water content (SWC) compared to non-functional meadows. Differences in SOC and SWC are driven by an interaction between meadow slope position and condition class. In addition, SOC and TN in mid-slope surface horizons are more than 50% higher in functional meadows compared to non-functional meadows. Results suggest with proper restoration efforts, riparian meadows can demonstrate potential for enhanced SOC storage.