INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF A STUDY DEALING WITH THE ROLE OF SALT-AFFECTED SOILS IN PRIMARY SUCCESSION ON THE TANANA RIVER FLOODPLAIN, INTERIOR ALASKA

This paper provides an overview of the environmental setting, rational e, and organization of a multidisciplinary research program designed t o examine the role of salt-affected soils in primary succession on the Tanana River floodplain of interior Alaska. The papers included in th is series report results of studies designed to examine the controls o f salt-affected soil formation and vegetation development and their in teraction in this fluvial environment. The association of pedogenic sa lts and forests is largely restricted to northern latitudes where both low precipitation and moderate potential evapotranspiration occur sim ultaneously. In contrast with upland secondary-successional sites, whe re fire is the principal determinant of forest type distribution and s uccessional change, ecosystem processes on the floodplain are determin ed by the fluvial nature of the environment. Consequently, the researc h presented an opportunity to evaluate some of the markedly contrastin g controls of development that exist between forests in the two topogr aphic locations. This study makes a substantial contribution to our un derstanding of how soil and vegetation interact on interior Alaskan fl oodplains to give rise to productive, commercially valuable forests.