Explaining the large-scale diversity of soil organisms that drive biogeochemical processes-and their responses to environmental change-is critical. However, identifying consistent drivers of ...belowground diversity and abundance for some soil organisms at large spatial scales remains problematic. Here we investigate a major guild, the ectomycorrhizal fungi, across European forests at a spatial scale and resolution that is-to our knowledge-unprecedented, to explore key biotic and abiotic predictors of ectomycorrhizal diversity and to identify dominant responses and thresholds for change across complex environmental gradients. We show the effect of 38 host, environment, climate and geographical variables on ectomycorrhizal diversity, and define thresholds of community change for key variables. We quantify host specificity and reveal plasticity in functional traits involved in soil foraging across gradients. We conclude that environmental and host factors explain most of the variation in ectomycorrhizal diversity, that the environmental thresholds used as major ecosystem assessment tools need adjustment and that the importance of belowground specificity and plasticity has previously been underappreciated.
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•Thick clay-silty Luvisols in the bottom of dolines have high SOC storage capacity.•Past agricultural land-use presents long-term impact on SOC stock in dolines.•Succession plots in ...dolines show the highest SOC storage capacity (130 t/ha).•Soil organic carbon stock in dolines was double the amount on the levelled plateau.
The soil organic carbon (SOC) was determined in soils of enclosed karst depressions (dolines) (NW Dinaric Mts.) to define their potential for organic carbon sequestration. SOC was measured in the forest, succession (scrubland), and grassland plots at the bottom of dolines at four depths (0–40 cm) and for 40 cm soil layer SOC stock was calculated. We demonstrated that the prevailing fine soil fractions, the C/N ratio and soil thickness play a positive role in the storage capacity of SOC in dolines regardless land use type. Grasslands have the lowest SOC storage capacity (106 t/ha/40 cm), while the highest SOC storage capacity is in succession plots (130 t/ha/40 cm). The last are covered by shrub communities dominated by Prunus spinosa, forming dense communities, and are typical of abandoned croplands or meadows that have been impacted by high levels of nutrients during cultivation phase. At this stage, there is no additional nutrient input in studied plots, which lowers the nutrient content and increases the C/N ratio. C/N ratio is the highest in the forest, where SOC stock capacity is 116 t/ha/40 cm. Given the trend towards the abandonment of agricultural land at Kras Plateau (SW Slovenia), we can expect more overgrowth of dolines, and thus an increase in carbon stocks and stabilization of organic carbon in forest soils. In contrary, we noticed the alarming decrease in grasslands and increase in urban land. The SOC storage in 2020 was for 12,538 t/ha/40 cm lower than in 2002. Although grasslands showed the lowest SOC storage, their contribution to total SOC storage in dolines is very important. Since there is a lack of studies on carbon stocks in doline soils, our research is of great importance and a novelty and gives an important background for further research on SOC stock in karst landscapes worldwide.
Atmospheric deposition to forests has been monitored within the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) with sampling and ...analyses of bulk precipitation and throughfall at several hundred forested plots for more than 15 years. The current deposition of inorganic nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium) and sulphate is highest in central Europe as well as in some southern regions. We compared linear regression and Mann–Kendall trend analysis techniques often used to detect temporal trends in atmospheric deposition. The choice of method influenced the number of significant trends. Detection of trends was more powerful using monthly data compared to annual data. The slope of a trend needed to exceed a certain minimum in order to be detected despite the short-term variability of deposition. This variability could to a large extent be explained by meteorological processes, and the minimum slope of detectable trends was thus similar across sites and many ions. The overall decreasing trends for inorganic nitrogen and sulphate in the decade to 2010 were about 2% and 6%, respectively. Time series of about 10 and 6 years were required to detect significant trends in inorganic nitrogen and sulphate on a single plot. The strongest decreasing trends were observed in western central Europe in regions with relatively high deposition fluxes, whereas stable or slightly increasing deposition during the last 5 years was found east of the Alpine region as well as in northern Europe. Past reductions in anthropogenic emissions of both acidifying and eutrophying compounds can be confirmed due to the availability of long-term data series but further reductions are required to reduce deposition to European forests to levels below which significant harmful effects do not occur according to present knowledge.
•Minimum detectable trend slopes depend on length of time series.•Temporal variability of deposition was similar across sites for many substances.•Despite higher noise, monthly data were better than annual data for trend analysis.•Nitrogen and sulphate deposition decreased by 2% and 6% per year, respectively.
Large amounts of buckwheat waste are generated annually by the industry and are used in several different ways. To date, there has been little research regarding its suitability as a medium for ...growing seedlings in nurseries. The aim of this study was therefore to analyze the suitability of common and Tartary buckwheat wastes (brans and husks) as media used for raising seedlings. A pot experiment with five different treatments was carried out, in which silver fir root parameters were analyzed and compared 6 and 12 months after summer truffle-spore inoculation. A significantly higher concentration of the antioxidant rutin was confirmed in Tartary buckwheat bran compared to other buckwheat waste used. We also confirmed a significantly positive effect of added Tartary buckwheat husks on specific root length, root tip density, and specific root tip density compared to added common buckwheat husks or Tartary buckwheat bran, for which a significantly negative effect on branching density was confirmed. A significantly negative effect of added buckwheat husks and Tartary buckwheat bran was confirmed for summer truffle mycorrhization level.
The present study addresses the short-term effects of different harvest intensities under close-to-nature selective management on the upper soil layers in Slovenian and Bosnian Dinaric karst ...fir-beech forests. The different harvest intensities coincided with the single-tree and irregular shelterwood management, common in the region. The effect of harvesting intensity on the upper soil layers (Ol, Of, Ol and 0–10 cm mineral soil) was investigated by a repeated measurements experiment in Slovenia on 27 research plots in close-to nature managed forests. The properties of the upper layers (concentration of SOC and TN, C/N ratio, weights, BD and SOC stocks) were analyzed twice, before (2011) and after (2014) treatment of 50% and 100% harvest intensity in relation to the total standing growing stock of trees. As a control, we used no-treatment <20% harvesting intensity plots. To extend this experiment, we added three comparable plots from the Bosnian site: one in an old-growth forest with 0% harvest intensity and two in the managed forest with <20% harvest intensity. The results of the assessment of mean differences indicated a significant influence of harvesting intensity on the decrease in SOC, TN concentrations, weights and SOC stocks in the organic layers and the increase in BD and SOC stocks in the 0–10 cm mineral soil. The highest relative decreases in Ol, Of and Oh SOC stocks occurred in 50% (−10 and −38%) and 100% (−16 and −49%) harvest intensities. Negligible relative differences in both organic and 0–10 cm mineral layers were found for the <20% harvest intensity in the region. The change in forest light conditions resulting from differences in canopy openness as a function of applied harvest intensity explained the significant difference in the properties of the upper soil layers. The impact of the short-term losses in SOC stocks, in terms of overall soil productivity, may depend on the regeneration dynamics and melioration methods.
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•High summer ozone and foliar symptoms were frequent in European forests.•They had stagnating, slightly declining time trends and different spatial pattern.•Ozone was higher in the ...Mediterranean and the Alpine biogeographic regions.•Symptoms tend to be driven by functional leaf traits.•Ozone had a significant effect on symptoms on the most sensitive species.
Tropospheric ozone (O3) increased globally in the 20th century, contributes to climate change and can have adverse effects on terrestrial ecosystems. The response of forest vegetation to ozone is modulated by species- and site-specific factors and visible foliar symptoms (VFS) are the only direct evidence of ozone effects on vegetation. VFS have been observed and reproduced under (semi-) controlled conditions and their field assessment has been largely harmonized in Europe. We analyzed ozone concentration and VFS data as measured at (respectively) 118 and 91 intensive monitoring sites of the International Co-Operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) spanning over five European biogeographic regions from 2005 to 2018. Average values for VFS were calculated accounting for the number of species present and their observed frequency. Spatial and temporal variation of ozone concentrations, VFS, and their relationships across Europe were then investigated by applying Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) and combined GLMMs. Ozone concentrations exceeded 40 ppb on 37.3 % of the sites and were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the Alpine and the Mediterranean regions. Over the 2005–2018 period there was a substantial stagnation of ozone concentrations with a tendency towards decreasing values in the Alpine-Boreal sites and increasing values in the Atlantic sites. Ozone left a “fingerprint” in terms of VFS on 38 % of the observed broadleaved woody species across Europe, with no significant difference among biogeographic regions. Overall, and again with the exception of an increase at the Atlantic sites, the frequency of VFS remained unchanged or has been slightly declining over the investigated period. We found positive relationship between ozone concentrations and VFS across Europe (p < 0.05), while their temporal trends (both insignificant) were not related. The species with the highest frequency of VFS were those classified as sensitive species under controlled/semi-controlled experimental conditions. Frequency of VFS tends to be modulated by vegetation traits such as specific leaf area and leaf thickness (p < 0.10). Our results showed that, although ozone levels suggested a North-to-South gradient of increasing potential risk to vegetation with hot spots in the Alps and in the Mediterranean, VFS observed on the actual species assemblage at the sites modifies this picture. According to frequency of VFS, ozone risk for vegetation may be higher in parts of the Alpine and Continental Europe than in the Mediterranean region.
Change history: In the HTML version of this Article, author 'Filipa Cox' had no affiliation in the author list, although she was correctly associated with affiliation 3 in the PDF. In addition, the ...blue circles for 'oak' were missing from Extended Data Fig. 1. These errors have been corrected online.
UDK 630*114:630*242(497.6)
Large areas of European fir-beech forests are characteristic for the Dinaric Mountains and represent one of the most important forest ecosystems in the region. Such forests ...extend in high karst plateaus from the eastern Alps in SE Slovenia to the N Albanian massifs at the altitudes from 700 to 1200 (1500) m a.s.l. This is the area with a diverse landscape configuration. The bedrock is consisted of limestone, occasionally of dolomite limestone and dolomite. There are various soil conditions, where in a small area, a mosaic of Leptosols, Rendzic Leptosols, Chromic Cambisol, Calcaric and Chromic Luvisols occur. As climate conditions are very favourable for the growth of forests (high precipitation and air humidity), production function of wood is much more emphasized. Very little is known about the long-term effects of forest management and intensity of logging on soil organic matter quality and carbon stocks in these forest soils. Therefore, with an objective to understand better variations in soil properties, both in space and time, aiming to minimize the uncertainties of the SOC (soil organic carbon) and TN (total nitrogen) stocks, we have set up a research objects in silver fir-beech forests, in Slovenia (research plots in Kočevje, Snežnik and Trnovo) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (research plots on MT Bjelašnica). We analysed soil properties of the unmanaged and managed sites studying differences between treatments and also changes for the two years period of observations. Preliminary results from Slovenian sites show that the high intensity of logging (50 and 100% cut of growing stock) causes a decrease in SOC and TN contents, wider C/N ratio and higher pH values, with the largest level of alternations in the organic part of the soils. The study in Bosnia gave information on inherent SOC and TN concentrations in the organic and surface mineral soil, and also indicated no differences in soil properties between unmanaged and managed sites characterized by low (14-18%) intensities of logging.
In recent years the harmonization of methods in the frame of the International Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) operating under ...the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) has been intensified. Among the C-actions of the FutMon project (LIFE07 ENV/D/000218; 2009-2010) the C1-Dep-22(SI) action was established with the goal to harmonize and develop the deposition monitoring procedures and sampling methods. The sampling equipment, spatial design of sampling plots and sampling frequency throughout Europe vary considerably. Therefore a step-by-step approach was made where the harmonized sampling equipment was developed and tested first. The selected collectors were installed at one observation plot of each participating country where measurements of throughfall and bulk deposition were run in parallel with the national collectors for a period of one year. To evaluate the agreement between methods, different statistical analyses were used including Altman-Bland plots, model II regression, and repeated measures ANOVA. Preliminary results from the “Intensive forest ecosystem monitoring plot” plot Brdo in NW Slovenia show a good agreement between national and harmonized bulk (both funnel-type) collectors, while comparison of throughfall measurements indicates systematic bias between harmonized (funnel-type) and national (gutter-type) collectors.
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