Responses of red spruce seedlings to changes in soil aluminum in six amended forest soil horizons

1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 1614-1623 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Devereux Joslin ◽  
Mark H. Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Forest Soil ◽  
Soil Solution ◽  
Root Biomass ◽  
Solution Culture ◽  
Red Spruce ◽  
Soil Parameters ◽  
Soil Horizons ◽  
Response Curves ◽  
Soil Aluminum ◽  
Extractable Al

A greenhouse pot study was conducted to develop response curves for red spruce (Picearubens Sarg.) seedlings to soil aluminum parameters, using soil from six diverse forest soil horizons. Soil Al levels were manipulated by varying pH through acidification (with HCl or HCl and CaSO4), liming (with Ca(OH)2), and control treatments. Treatments significantly (p < 0.05) altered soil pH (0.01 M CaCl2), 0.01 M SrCl2-extractable Al, and soil solution Al concentrations. Root biomass and foliar biomass were significantly reduced in most acidification treatments, and strong correlations between soil parameters of Al and biomass responses point to Al as the major cause of biomass reductions, especially in the three horizons where the toxicity threshold (approximately 200 μM inorganic monomeric Al) was markedly exceeded. Soil solution levels of inorganic monomeric Al and total Al (R2 = 0.79 and 0.74, respectively) were superior predictors of root biomass compared with the activity of Al3+ in solution (0.61) and 0.01 M SrCl2-extractable Al (0.61). Plant response curves to these soil solution inorganic monomeric Al concentrations are in agreement with those developed in published research on solution culture of red spruce seedlings. Peak soil solution Al concentrations measured in mature red spruce stands approach toxicity thresholds observed in this study.

COMPARISON OF EXCHANGEABLE Al, EXTRACTABLE Al, AND Al IN SOIL FRACTIONS

1990 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. SHUMAN
Keyword(s):  
Soil Solution ◽  
Organic Fraction ◽  
Soil Fractions ◽  
Mn Oxide ◽  
Soil Aluminum ◽  
Exchangeable Al ◽  
Exchangeable Fraction ◽  
Exchangeable Aluminum ◽  
Extractable Al ◽  
Al Oxide

Previous results indicated that the activity of Al3+ in soil solution, Al saturation of the CEC, and 0.01 M CaCl2-extractable Al were related to plant growth. Exchangeable Al values determined by 1 M KCl and 1 M NH4Cl, extractable Al values determined by 1 M NH4OAc, pH 4.8, 0.01 M CaCl2, 0.5 M CuCl2, 0.33 M LaCl3, and 0.005 M NTA, were compared with each other and to the activity of Al3+ in soil solution as well as Al in soil fractions. Aluminum in fractions was measured to determine the forms solubilized by the extradants. The fractions extracted were exchangeable [M Mg(NO3)2], organic bound, Mn oxide, amorphous Fe and Al oxide, and crystalline Fe and Al oxide. The order of Al extracted was CuCl2 > NH4OAc, [Formula: see text]. One M KCl and NH4Cl, and CuCl2, LaCl3, NTA, and NH4OAc, pH 4.8, gave similar relative Al values, especially for topsoils, and were not correlated with CaCl2-Al values. The exchangeable fraction Al [M Mg(NO3)2] was well correlated with the activity of Al3+ in the soil solution and Al saturation of the CEC. Organic fraction Al was negatively correlated with the activity of Al3+ in the soil solution indicating that organic matter can bind Al lowering its concentration in the soil solution. Aluminum in the crystalline Fe/Al oxide fraction correlated well with that extracted by CuCl2, LaCl3, NTA, and NH4OAc, pH 4.8, leading to the possible conclusion that these extradants solubilize Al from plant-unavailable fractions. Key words: Soil aluminum, aluminum extractants, aluminum fractions, exchangeable aluminum

Nutrient cycling in red spruce forests of the Great Smoky Mountains

1991 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 769-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale W. Johnson ◽  
Helga Van Miegroet ◽  
Steven E. Lindberg ◽  
Donald E. Todd ◽  
Robert B. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Soil Solution ◽  
Measurement Errors ◽  
Mineral Soil ◽  
Acid Soils ◽  
Base Cation ◽  
Solution Culture ◽  
Red Spruce ◽  
Great Smoky Mountains ◽  
Typical Situation ◽  
Smoky Mountains

Nutrient distributions, concentrations, and fluxes in two red spruce (Picearubens Sarg.) stands in the Great Smoky Mountains are described and used to evaluate various hypotheses for recent decline of this species. These forests, like others in the southern Appalachians, were relatively rich in N and low in base cation status. The combination of high atmospheric N and S deposition, little or no N or S retention, relatively high N mineralization, and extremely acid soils caused soil solutions to be dominated by NO3−, SO42−, Al, and H+. Soil solution Al in these sites (most of which was in monomeric form) occasionally reached levels noted to inhibit base cation uptake and root growth in solution culture studies. These pulses of Al were driven by pulses of NO3− and, to a lesser extent, SO42− in soil solution. However, fine roots were present at depths of up to 60 cm in the mineral soil, indicating that Al concentrations had not become consistently toxic to roots. Solution fluxes (both throughfall and soil leaching) exceeded litter-fall fluxes for all the macronutrients at both sites, a typical situation for K and S, but most unusual for N, P, Ca, and Mg. There are significant implications of these fluxes and of the apparent net uptake of N by foliage in terms of how vegetation uptake and translocation are calculated. Some new formulations are suggested, but measurement errors in systems with such a predominance of hydrologic fluxes make foliar leaching and, therefore, uptake and translocation calculations extremely uncertain. Although there are no outward signs of decline in these forests (other than balsam fir (Abiesbalsamea (L.) Mill.) mortality due to the balsam woolly adelgid (Adelgespiceae (Ratz.))), the high rates of NO3− leaching rates and the borderline soil solution Al values suggest that these systems are under stress. Whether these factors actually lead to a dieback or growth decline remains to be seen.

Effects of grassland afforestation on exchangeable soil and soil solution aluminium

Soil Research ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 1003 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. L. Adams ◽  
M. R. Davis ◽  
K. J. Powell
Keyword(s):  
Forest Soil ◽  
Soil Solution ◽  
Base Cation ◽  
Pinus Nigra ◽  
Base Saturation ◽  
Conifer Forest ◽  
Forest Sites ◽  
Hill Slope ◽  
Soil Solutions ◽  
The Impact

The impact of land use change from grassland to conifer forest on the aluminium (Al) concentrations in soils and soil solutions was examined. Soils from grassland were compared with those from adjoining 15–19-year old forest stands at 3 contrasting pairs of sites in South Island, New Zealand. The site pairs were on a terrace [Pinus nigra/P. ponderosa, and grassland (CP)], and a hill slope [Pseudotsuga menziesii and grassland (CF)] in the Craigieburn range, Canterbury, and a hill slope in the Lammerlaw Range, Otago [P. radiata and grassland (LP)]. The sites had never been cultivated or fertilised, and for each pair the forest and grassland were similar in terms of soil and topography. The 1 M KCl exchangeable and 0.02 M CaCl 2 extractable Al levels at 0–10 cm were higher in forest than in grassland topsoil at CP and LP (P < 0.01). In soil solutions there was a trend for both ‘reactive Al’ and Al bound in labile organic complexes to be higher in forest soil at all sites, but site-pair differences were only significant at LP, and only for ‘reactive Al’. The increase in ‘reactive Al’ at this site was linked to the low pH and low base saturation. The ratios of exchangeable and soil solution Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ to ‘reactive Al’ were substantially lower in forest than grassland soils at all sites. Aluminium complexation capacity (Al-CC) values at all sites were higher in forest soil solutions than in grassland soil solutions. For the grassland and forest sites at LP, the Al-CC correlated strongly with the amount of soluble fulvic and humic matter present, as estimated from soil solution UV absorbance at 250 nm. In soils with the lowest percentage base saturation and buffering capacity (LP), afforestation of pastoral grassland with Pinus radiata significantly reduced soil pH and base cation levels, while increasing both soil and soil solution Al concentrations. Under such conditions (base saturation <20%), the increase in ‘reactive Al’ concentrations in soil solutions under fast growing conifer tree species may be sufficient to affect Mg uptake.

Live and Dead Roots in Forest Soil Horizons: Contrasting Effects on Nitrogen Dynamics

Ecology ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan G. Ehrenfeld ◽  
William F. J. Parsons ◽  
Xingguo Han ◽  
Robert W. Parmelee ◽  
Weixing Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Forest Soil ◽  
Nitrogen Dynamics ◽  
Soil Horizons

Red spruce soil solution chemistry and root distribution across a cloud water deposition gradient

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 893-904 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.D. Joslin ◽  
M.H. Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Soil Solution ◽  
Fine Root ◽  
Base Cation ◽  
Cloud Water ◽  
Red Spruce ◽  
High Cloud ◽  
Ion Concentrations ◽  
Soil Solutions ◽  
Cloud Water Deposition ◽  
Deposition Gradient

The decline of red spruce (Picearubens Sarg.) at high elevations in eastern North America has been linked in time and space with exposure to acidic cloud water. To investigate the belowground effects of a cloud water deposition gradient between two mature red spruce stands on the summit of Whitetop Mountain, Virginia, the chemistries of precipitation, throughfall, and soil solution were monitored over a 2-year period, and fine-root distributions were characterized. Deposition of water, sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium in throughfall and stemflow was from 15 to 55% greater at the site with greater exposure to cloud water deposition (high cloud site), depending upon the particular ion and year. Soil solution nitrate concentrations were highly variable over time, and base cation, Al, and H ion concentrations were highly correlated with nitrate in both organic and mineral horizons at both sites. Soil solution nitrate, base cation, Al, and H ion concentrations were two to six times greater during periods of low soil moisture in the summer–autumn of 1987 and 1988 than during the remainder of the study period. In the mineral soil solutions, the high cloud site had significantly higher (p < 0.001) concentrations of nitrate and Al, and significantly lower (p < 0.05) Ca:Al and Mg:Al ratios. The high cloud stand also had shallower root systems, with fine-root biomass less than 40% of that of the low cloud stand (p < 0.05) at all depths greater than 18 cm. Soil solutions collected from below 15 cm at the high cloud site had a mean Ca:Al ratio less than 0.5 and Al concentrations that during dry periods, frequently approached or exceeded the literature values for the toxicity threshold for red spruce root growth. Restricted root development in the high cloud stand was apparently the result of this unfavorable chemical environment.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document