Effect of thinning on the amount of mineral nitrogen

The soil nitrogen cycle and the dynamics of its transformation are closely related to the functioning of the forest ecosystem. This cycle, and the availability of nitrogen as a necessary nutrient in the soil, can be influenced by the process of thinning. The aim of this study is to describe the impact of silvicultural measures on the content of ammonium and nitrate nitrogen in forest soil. Attention is paid to the organic (spruce treatments) and organomineral horizon (beech treatments) in which the transformation of soil nitrogen is most pronounced. Spruce treatments at the Rájec-Němčice area and beech stands at the Březina area, both in the region of Drahanská vrchovina (Czech Republic), were selected for the experiments. Two variants of thinning thinning from below and thinning from above, were performed in the spruce treatments, and thinning from above was performed in the beech treatments. Control variants with no silvicultural measures were defined in both treatments. The amount of ammonium nitrogen in the spruce treatments with thinning from above was in most cases higher than in the other variants. On the contrary, in variant with thinning from below, the ammonium nitrogen content decreased. In terms of the nitrate nitrogen content, the values were generally higher for variants with silvicultural measures than for the control variants. In the beech treatments, the amount of ammonium nitrogen increased and, on the contrary, there was a small decrease in the amount of nitrate nitrogen due to the effect of thinning from above. The differences between thinning from above and the control variants in the beech treatments were less noticeable than in the spruce treatments. Overall, however, it can be said that the nitrogen content available to the vegetation increased. The results of the given experiment provide insight into the trends of nitrogen mineralization intensity in stands in which silvicultural measures are performed.