Dataset Information

Soil solution in Swiss forest stands: A 20 year's time series.

ABSTRACT: Soil solution chemistry is influenced by atmospheric deposition of air pollutants, exchange processes with the soil matrix and soil-rhizosphere-plant interactions. In this study we present the results of the long-term Intercantonal Forest Observation Program in Switzerland with soil solution measurements since 1998 on a current total of 47 plots. The forest sites comprise two major forest types of Switzerland including a wide range of ecological gradients such as different nitrogen (N) deposition and soil conditions. The long-term data set of 20 years of soil solution measurements revealed an ongoing, but site-specific soil acidification. In strongly acidified soils (soil pH below 4.2), acidification indicators changed only slowly over the measured period, possibly due to high buffering capacity of the aluminum buffer (pH 4.2-3.8). In contrast, in less acidified sites we observed an increasing acidification rate over time, reflected, for example, by the continuous decrease in the ratio of base cations to aluminum (BC/Al ratio). Nowadays, the main driver of soil acidification is the high rate of N deposition, causing cation losses and hampering sustainable nutrient balances for tree nutrition. Mean nitrate leaching rates for the years 2005-2017 were 9.4 kg N ha-1 yr-1, ranging from 0.04 to 53 kg N ha-1 yr-1. Three plots with high N input had a remarkable low nitrate leaching. Both N deposition and nitrate leaching have decreased since 2000. However, the latter trend may be partly explained due to increased drought in recent years. Nonetheless, those high N depositions are still affecting the majority of the forest sites. Taken together, this study gives evidence of anthropogenic soil acidification in Swiss forest stands. The underlying long-term measurements of soil solution provides important information on nutrient leaching losses and the impact climate change effects such as droughts. Furthermore, this study improves the understanding of forest management and tree mortality regarding varying nitrate leaching rates.

SUBMITTER: Braun S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7360040 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Soil solution in Swiss forest stands: A 20 year's time series.

Braun Sabine S Tresch Simon S Augustin Sabine S

PloS one 20200714 7

Soil solution chemistry is influenced by atmospheric deposition of air pollutants, exchange processes with the soil matrix and soil-rhizosphere-plant interactions. In this study we present the results of the long-term Intercantonal Forest Observation Program in Switzerland with soil solution measurements since 1998 on a current total of 47 plots. The forest sites comprise two major forest types of Switzerland including a wide range of ecological gradients such as different nitrogen (N) depositio ...[more]

PMID: 32663212

Similar Datasets

Project description:Interest in establishing biological-based economies has created increasing and rapidly moving demand for wood and fibre from production forests. Meeting the global demand for timber supply will require investment and development across all components of the supply chain but will ultimately rely on the ability of the forestry sector to increase productivity without compromising the sustainability of plantation management. To address this issue in the context of New Zealand forestry, a trial series was established from 2015 to 2018 to accelerate plantation forest growth by exploring current and future limitations to timber productivity, then altering management practices to overcome these limits. The six sites in this Accelerator trial series were planted with a mix of 12 different types of Pinus radiata D. Don stock expressing various traits related to tree growth, health and wood quality. The planting stock included ten clones, a hybrid and a seed lot representing a widely planted tree stock used throughout New Zealand. At each trial site a range of treatments were applied, including a control. The treatments were designed to address the specific current and predicted limitations to productivity at each location, with consideration for environmental sustainability and impacts on wood quality. Additional site-specific treatments will be implemented across the approximately 30-year life span of each trial. Here we present data describing both the pre-harvest and time zero state of at each trial site. These data provide a baseline that will enable treatment responses to be holistically understood as the trial series matures. This comparison will determine if current tree productivity has been enhanced, and if improvements in site characteristics may also benefit future rotations. The Accelerator trials represent an ambitious research goal that will take planted forest productivity to a new level of enhanced long-term forest productivity without compromising the sustainable management of future forests.

Project description:Invasive plants can modify the diversity and taxonomical structure of soil microbiomes. However, it is difficult to generalize the underlying factors as their influence often seems to depend on the complex plant-soil-microbial interactions. In this paper, we investigated how Quercus rubra impacts on the soil microbiome across two soil horizons in relation to native woodland. Five paired adjacent invaded vs native vegetation plots in a managed forest in southern Poland were investigated. Soil microbial communities were assessed along with soil enzyme activities and soil physicochemical parameters, separately for both organic and mineral horizons, as well as forest stand characteristics to explore plant-soil-microbe interactions. Although Q. rubra did not significantly affect pH, organic C, total N, available nutrients nor enzymatic activity, differences in soil abiotic properties (except C to N ratio) were primarily driven by soil depth for both vegetation types. Further, we found significant differences in soil microbiome under invasion in relation to native vegetation. Microbial richness and diversity were lower in both horizons of Q. rubra vs control plots. Moreover, Q. rubra increased relative abundance of unique amplicon sequence variants in both horizons and thereby significantly changed the structure of the core soil microbial communities, in comparison to the control plots. In addition, predicted microbial functional groups indicated a predominant soil depth effect in both vegetation plots with higher abundance of aerobic chemoheterotrophic bacteria and endophytic fungi in the organic horizon and greater abundance of methanotrophic and methylotrophic bacteria, and ectomycorrhizal fungi in the mineral horizon. Overall, our results indicate strong associations between Q. rubra invasion and changes in soil microbiome and associated functions, a finding that needs to be further investigated to predict modifications in ecosystem functioning caused by this invasive species.

Project description:Time-series data offer a way of investigating the causes driving ecological processes as phenomena. To test for possible differences in water relations between species of different forest structural guilds at Danum (Sabah, NE Borneo), daily stem girth increments (gthi), of 18 trees across six species were regressed individually on soil moisture potential (SMP) and temperature (TEMP), accounting for temporal autocorrelation (in GLS-arima models), and compared between a wet and a dry period. The best-fitting significant variables were SMP the day before and TEMP the same day. The first resulted in a mix of positive and negative coefficients, the second largely positive ones. An adjustment for dry-period showers was applied. Interactions were stronger in dry than wet period. Negative relationships for overstorey trees can be interpreted in a reversed causal sense: fast transporting stems depleted soil water and lowered SMP. Positive relationships for understorey trees meant they took up most water at high SMP. The unexpected negative relationships for these small trees may have been due to their roots accessing deeper water supplies (if SMP was inversely related to that of the surface layer), and this was influenced by competition with larger neighbour trees. A tree-soil flux dynamics manifold may have been operating. Patterns of mean diurnal girth variation were more consistent among species, and time-series coefficients were negatively related to their maxima. Expected differences in response to SMP in the wet and dry periods did not clearly support a previous hypothesis differentiating drought and non-drought tolerant understorey guilds. Trees within species showed highly individual responses when tree size was standardized. Data on individual root systems and SMP at several depths are needed to get closer to the mechanisms that underlie the tree-soil water phenomena in these tropical forests. Neighborhood stochasticity importantly creates varying local environments experienced by individual trees.

Project description:Increasing awareness of the issue of deforestation and degradation in the tropics has resulted in efforts to monitor forest resources in tropical countries. Advances in satellite-based remote sensing and ground-based technologies have allowed for monitoring of forests with high spatial, temporal and thematic detail. Despite these advances, there is a need to engage communities in monitoring activities and include these stakeholders in national forest monitoring systems. In this study, we analyzed activity data (deforestation and forest degradation) collected by local forest experts over a 3-year period in an Afro-montane forest area in southwestern Ethiopia and corresponding Landsat Time Series (LTS). Local expert data included forest change attributes, geo-location and photo evidence recorded using mobile phones with integrated GPS and photo capabilities. We also assembled LTS using all available data from all spectral bands and a suite of additional indices and temporal metrics based on time series trajectory analysis. We predicted deforestation, degradation or stable forests using random forest models trained with data from local experts and LTS spectral-temporal metrics as model covariates. Resulting models predicted deforestation and degradation with an out of bag (OOB) error estimate of 29% overall, and 26% and 31% for the deforestation and degradation classes, respectively. By dividing the local expert data into training and operational phases corresponding to local monitoring activities, we found that forest change models improved as more local expert data were used. Finally, we produced maps of deforestation and degradation using the most important spectral bands. The results in this study represent some of the first to combine local expert based forest change data and dense LTS, demonstrating the complementary value of both continuous data streams. Our results underpin the utility of both datasets and provide a useful foundation for integrated forest monitoring systems relying on data streams from diverse sources.

Project description:Continuity in forest habitats is crucial for species diversity and richness. Ancient Scots pine forests are usually under forest management, which disturbs vegetation and causes differentiation in terms of tree stand age. To date, vegetation variability in ancient Scots pine forests has not been examined based on tree stand age classes. In the present study the continuity of a large Scots pine forest complex was investigated, and a system of sampling plots established in five tree stand age classes: initiation stands (4-10 years), young stands (20-35 years), middle-aged stands (45-60 years), pre-mature stands (70-85 years) and mature stands (95-110 years). Species composition, including vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens, on soil, tree trunks, and coarse woody debris, was analyzed. Based on existing classifications systems, forest species and ancient forest species groups were distinguished. In the studied ancient Scots pine forests the species pool and richness were relatively low, and the vegetation consisted mostly of generalist species. Cryptogams, which can grow on diverse substrates, were the most abundant species. Moreover, most species could tolerate both forest and non-forest conditions. Age class forests provided different environmental niches for species. Initiation stands were optimal for terrestrial light-demanding species, and in terms of species composition, initiation stands were most specific. Young stands were most preferred by species on coarse woody debris, and at this stage of stand maturation epiphytic species re-appeared. The oldest stands were not rich in forest specialists, i.e. species of closed forest and ancient forest species. Cryptogams of closed forests inhabited different substrates, and they were not associated only with the oldest stands. The low number of forest specialists in the oldest stands may be a general feature of acidophilus pine forests. However, it may also be a result of the lack of species sources in the vicinity of maturing pine stands. In managed forests a frequent diversity pattern is an increase in a species pool and richness after clear-cut logging. In the present study we obtained higher species pools in initiation and young stands, but richness was similar in all tree stand age classes. This resulted from taking into account species of different substrates (terrestrial, epixylous and epiphytic species) which changed their participation in the vegetation of subsequent stages of tree stand development.

Dataset Information

Soil solution in Swiss forest stands: A 20 year's time series.

Publications

Soil solution in Swiss forest stands: A 20 year's time series.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets