Prediction of medium- and long-term changes in soil reaction in a beech forest based on observations in the beech stemflow zone
2007
Pichler, V., Technical University in Zvolen (Slovak Republic). Faculty of Forestry | Gregor, J., Technical University in Zvolen (Slovak Republic). Faculty of Forestry | Homolák, M., Technical University in Zvolen (Slovak Republic). Faculty of Forestry | Capuliak, J., Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Zürich (Switzerland) | Bebej, J., Technical University in Zvolen (Slovak Republic). Faculty of Forestry | Váľka, J., Slovak Academy of Sciences, Zvolen (Slovak Republic). Institute of Forest Ecology
The active soil reaction in a mature beech forest subjected to alkaline dust deposition reflected parallel influence of both alkaline and acid deposition. As a result, the active soil reaction within the stemflow zone at the depth of 5-10 cm decreased from 7.4 and 6.5 to 5.9 and 4.7, respectively. Outside the stemflow zone, the soil pH values were reduced from 7.9 to 6.6. This phenomenon occurred due to the long-range acid air pollution transport. Stechiometric calculations showed that the amount of acid deposition was amplified through the stemflow effect in beech trees that in their turn partly offset the alkaline deposition. Thus, the active reaction of the topsoil subjected to stemflow moved from moderately alkaline to moderately acid range during the period 1990-2006, while a similar shift from moderately alkaline towards neutral values occurred outside the stemflow zone. The pH decrease was correlated with a more than 90% reduction in alkaline dust emissions from magnesite works. In the stemflow zone, the active soil reaction at the depth of 5-10 cm is supposed to remain in the related intervals up to about 2030. Outside the stemflow zone, the active soil reaction at the same depth should persist in the neutral range until 2015. Subsequently, the active soil reaction will move towards the moderately acid range even outside the stemflow zone. Standard forest management will probably cause the active soil reaction to converge to the original soil pH value of 5 in the course of approximately 200 years.
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