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To assess the ecological quality of acid forest soils, the base saturation and the solution pH, Al concentration and base cation/Al ratios are of interest. Relationships between these parameters would facilitate this assessment. Examples are empirical relationships between pH and base saturation, and between the Al concentration and the ionic strength of the soil solution. From a mechanistic point...
The feldspar content of three soils developed from Pleistocene calcareous till, glacial sand and loess in NW Germany was investigated in order to characterize the stores of feldspar in detailed particle split as well as changes as a function of soil depth. Feldspars are present in all fractions <2000 μm except the <0.2-μm fraction. In the 100- to 500-μm sand fractions, there is less feldspar...
Preferential flow is a common phenomenon in soils, but the temporal stability of the heterogeneous flow pattern is largely unknown. We give evidence that preferential flow paths in a structured forest soil are persistent for decades. After staining preferential flow paths in a fine-loamy Dystric Cambisol with a dye tracer, we sampled the soil from the preferential flow paths and from the unstained...
The effects of weathering on clasts (rock fragments) in soil have not been investigated as widely as those on the less than 2-mm soil fraction (''fine earth'') or on rock surfaces exposed to the atmosphere. In this work, a scanning electron microscope/X-ray diffraction investigation, integrated with some chemical analyses, was made on coarse (4-8 cm as maximum length) clasts of sandstone from the...
By integrating the results of recent studies on the concentration and flux of Si in European forest soils (podzols and acid brown soils) with published evidence on the amounts of Si cycled through forest vegetation, we conclude that phytoliths must be the principal immediate source and sink of silica in soil solution, although mineral weathering is the ultimate source. During the growing season, forest...
Soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (total N) stocks in 0–0.3 and 0.3–1.0m soil layers were estimated following the standard procedures for three vegetation communities; Schefflera-Hagenia, Hypericum-Erica-Schefflera, and Erica arborea (shrub size), at different topographic aspects (east-, west-, north- and south-facing) on the Bale Mountains in the south-eastern highlands of Ethiopia. The...
We have investigated the clay mineralogy of 3 pedons along a toposequence of perhumid forest soils facing a subalpine lake in northeastern Taiwan to gain insight into the individual factors that affect weathering rates. Toposequence of the transect was investigated from summit to footslope and at the lakeshore. The natural drainage of soils varies from well drained to poorly drained. The major minerals...
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays an important role in ecosystem processes such as nutrient release and utilization, mobilization and transport of metals, and carbon sequestration. We investigated the chemical properties of soils from the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM) which is the site of a long-term paired-watershed experimental acidification study that includes both deciduous and coniferous...
Soil acidification and consequent Al release is a problem particularly under forests in mountainous areas of the Czech Republic. It is controlled by a number of factors, like acid deposition, forest type, parent rock, altitude, etc. The Jizera Mountains region presents an area heavily influenced by acidification and forest decline. This paper focused on the effect of stand factors on spatial distribution...
For millennia, land use in the Mediterranean region has led to situations in which soil has been severely degraded showing high risks of erosion and impoverishment. Thus, the establishment of soil quality indices is considered to be of crucial importance in determining the state of degradation and recovery of soils. Soils from stable forest ecosystems have specific physical, chemical and biological...
Over the past years, Bayesian calibration methods have been successfully applied to calibrate ecosystem models. Bayesian methods combine prior probability distributions of model parameters, based on assumptions about their magnitude and uncertainty, with estimates of the likelihood of the simulation results by comparison with observed values. Bayesian methods also quantify the uncertainty in the updated...
Forest soils can act as both sinks and sources for atmospheric CO 2 and therefore have an important role in the global carbon cycle. Yet the controls on forest soil organic matter content (SOM) distribution at the scale of operational land management scales within forest types are rarely quantified in detail. To identify factors that influence the spatial distribution and accumulation of SOM...
The soils of adjacent first generation monospecific stands of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) in the Campine region, Belgium, apparently developed under the same forming factors, were studied for carbon dynamics to disentangle eventual different past land uses. In fact, visual observations suggested that the soil under pine experienced substantial addition of...
This study investigates the effect of predominant historical atmospheric depositions of fly ashes from brown coal power plants on physical properties of forest soils along a deposition gradient (0 to 33.9 km). Studies on physical properties of a pure fly ash show a sand dominated texture, high particle density, (macro-)porosity and saturated hydraulic conductivity as well as a slight water repellency...
Soil physical and chemical characteristics as well as climatic and geomorphological factors have been determined in 68 sites of a mountain calcimorphic ecosystem (Sierra María-Los Vélez Natural Park, Almería) in Southeastern Spain. Land use and vegetation were natural pine forest, evergreen oak forest, reforested pine forest of different ages, bush, juniper forest, and olive, almond and cereal crops...
Preferential flow paths are thought to affect the patterns of chemical properties of forest soils. However, little is known about their influence on podzols in coniferous forests. In our study we examined how soil chemical properties of a podzol in a Norway spruce stand are affected by preferential flow. We did three tracer experiments with Brilliant Blue FCF and analyzed soil chemical parameters...
Nitrogen deposition and increasing temperature are two of the major large-scale changes projected for coming decades and the effect of this change on dissolved organic matter is largely unknown. We have utilized a long-term fertilization and soil warming experiment in Northern Sweden to study the effects of increased nutrient levels and increased temperature on DOC transport under the O horizon. The...
There is little information available about the molecular composition of organic fractions with a possible bearing in soil water repellency. Extremely water-repellent forest soils developed on granites or schists, under vegetation of pine or eucalyptus, were used for sequential isolation of two lipid fractions: free lipid extracted with petroleum ether and ‘bound’ lipid obtained with the same solvent...
The molar ratio of the calcium (Ca) and aluminium (Al) activities (Ca/Al ratio) in soil water is an important indicator for forest health conditions, with values less than 1 indicating negative conditions for forest growth. Here we used and calibrated a simple model, with only modest parameter requirement, to describe the Ca activity in soil water of acid forest soils according to the Gaines–Thomas...
Spatial information about forest soil base cations is important because of its implications for forest health and resilience to disturbance and management.The relevance of using geochemical data from lake and stream sediments collected for mining prospection purposes was evaluated to assess on a relative basis the forest soil base cation status and availability across the Quebec (Canada) forest landbase,...
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