Status and Dynamics of Forests in Germany by Nicole Wellbrock & Andreas Bolte

Author:Nicole Wellbrock & Andreas Bolte
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9783030157340
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

The SEM for the organic layer and the mineral soil revealed indications on a relation between soil acidity and C stocks. The pH value of the organic layer correlated negatively with C stocks, while the mineral soil showed a positive correlation. Furthermore, the results in respect to forest stand types and soil parent material groups especially for the organic layer indicated a relation between pH value and C stocks (Fig. 6.13). Both, soil parent material groups, representing a broad range of soil acidity, and forest stand types, representing a broad range of base and acidic cations caused by the litter of various tree species, showed a significant gradient of acidity. Moreover, C stock changes of the organic layer were negatively related to pH value. In forest soils liming is performed to compensate for acidic inputs and to improve the cation supply of the trees. Therefore, liming increases the pH value which in turn affects the organic carbon cycle in forest soils (see Sect. 6.5.3). Various studies demonstrated that nutrient-rich soils tend to be associated with higher rates of litter decomposition , whereas the accumulation of soil organic matter in less fertile soils occurs due to reduced decomposition (Oostra et al. 2006; Vesterdal et al. 2013). Vesterdal (1999) demonstrated that the accumulation of C in the organic layer was higher on less fertile sites than on fertile sites. This was explained by higher activity of organisms on fertile sites that incorporate material from the organic layer into the mineral soil. A study on Norway spruce stands on a soil poor in nutrient showed that the root mass in the forest floor was much greater than in stands on more nutrient-rich soils (Vesterdal et al. 1995). A larger input of root litter to the organic layer at acidic sites poor in nutrient may thus additionally contribute to a higher sequestration of C in the organic layer.

Fig. 6.13Relation between the pH value and carbon stocks (a) in the organic layer and (b) in the 10–30 cm depth increment of the mineral soil. The linear regression was performed between the averaged pH value carbon stocks of various soil parent material groups; the numbers in the legend represent soil parent material groups with (1) soils from base-poor unconsolidated sediment, (2) soils of alluvial plains, (3) loamy soils of the lowland, (4) soils from weathered carbonate bedrock, (5) soils from basic-intermediate bedrock, (6) soils from base-poor hard bedrock , (7) soils from the Alps, and (8) organic soils

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