Soil Fauna Increase Betula Pendula Growth: Laboratory Experiments With Coniferous Forest Floor

Ecology ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 665-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heikki Setala ◽  
Veikko Huhta
Keyword(s):  
Forest Floor ◽  
Betula Pendula ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Soil Fauna ◽  
Coniferous Forest

Decrease in soil microbial activity and biomasses owing to nitrogen amendments

1983 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 1500-1506 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Söderström ◽  
E. Bååth ◽  
B. Lundgren
Keyword(s):  
Respiration Rate ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Coniferous Forest ◽  
Soil Microbial Activity ◽  
Urea Treatment ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
Respiration Rates ◽  
Nitrate Addition ◽  
Transitory Effect ◽  
Forest Podzols

Microbial biomass and soil respiration rate decreased after application of 150 kg NH4NO3–N∙ha−1 to different coniferous forest podzols. The decrease was already found 3 months after fertilization and was still evident after 3–5 years. Changes in pH, organic matter, or water content in the soils could not explain the decreases. In laboratory experiments, several unfertilized forest soils were treated with 2 mg of NH4NO3–N or of urea–nitrogen∙g wet soil−1. The ammonium nitrate addition resulted in severe depressions of the respiration rates during and up to 175 days of incubation and the decrease was evident after about 1 week. The urea treatment initially increased the respiration rate of the soils, but this appeared to be a transitory effect.

Communities of soil mites (Acarina) in planted birch stands compared with natural forests in central Finland

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veikko Huhta ◽  
Ritva Niemi
Keyword(s):  
Betula Pendula ◽  
Soil Fauna ◽  
Deciduous Forests ◽  
Litter Layer ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Clear Cutting ◽  
Soil Mite ◽  
Spruce Stands ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
Mite Communities

The aim of the study was to compare the soil mite communities in anthropogenous birch stands of different origin with each other and with natural forests at the same latitude. Nine sites were investigated: three birch stands (Betula pendula Roth) planted ca. 30 years prior to the study after clear-cutting of spruce stands ("birch after spruce"), three birch stands planted ca. 30 years earlier on arable soil that had been under cultivation until reforestation ("birch after field"), and three natural deciduous forests. These were sampled twice, and microarthropods were extracted, counted, and identified. There were clear differences between birch stands established after spruce forest and after cultivation and between these and natural deciduous forests. The communities of birch after spruce were rather similar to those of natural spruce forests, but the population densities were lower. The populations in birch after field were generally very low. There were also conspicuous differences among replicates of the same kind of forests. All the dominant species in the study sites are common members of the forest soil fauna. The communities of birch after field could be characterized as impoverished forest communities. Soil pH and the removal of the litter layer by earthworms were regarded as the most important factors explaining the observed differences.

The influence of bigleaf maple on chemical properties of throughfall, stemflow, and forest floor in coniferous forest in the Pacific Northwest

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 868-878 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khaled Hamdan ◽  
Margaret Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Forest Floor ◽  
Coniferous Forest ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Exchange Capacity ◽  
N Availability ◽  
Total N ◽  
Acer Macrophyllum ◽  
K Concentration ◽  
Species Specific

It is predicted that bigleaf maple ( Acer macrophyllum Pursh) will almost double in frequency in British Columbia by 2085 due to climate change. We address whether its frequency increase could influence chemical properties of throughfall, stemflow, and forest floor due to species-specific effects. Eight plots with a single bigleaf maple tree in the centre of conifers were paired with eight Douglas-fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) plots without bigleaf maple. Compared with conifer plots, bigleaf maple throughfall and stemflow had higher pH and K concentration. The under-canopy and near-trunk forest floor associated with bigleaf maple showed higher pH, total exchangeable bases, cation-exchange capacity, and concentrations of exchangeable Ca and Mg. In addition, the near-trunk forest floor had higher base saturation and concentrations and contents of NO3-N and contents of total N and S. Throughfall and stemflow beneath bigleaf maple appear to contribute to higher pH and N availability in the forest floor. The results suggest that there is a soil microsite around bigleaf maple stems that is influenced by stemflow. These enriched microsites proximal to bigleaf maple trunks would allow bigleaf maple to have legacy effects on soil fertility and promote conifer productivity later in succession following bigleaf maple mortality.

The role of litterfall in transferring Fukushima-derived radiocesium to a coniferous forest floor

2014 ◽  
Vol 490 ◽  
pp. 435-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengistu T. Teramage ◽  
Yuichi Onda ◽  
Hiroaki Kato ◽  
Takashi Gomi
Keyword(s):  
Forest Floor ◽  
Coniferous Forest

Interaction between decomposing litter and soil fauna of the Betula ermanii forest floor of the Changbai Mountains, China

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (12) ◽  
pp. 1507-1514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoqiang Li ◽  
Xiuqin Yin ◽  
Zhenhai Wang ◽  
Weihong Fan
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Forest Floor ◽  
Loss Rate ◽  
Soil Fauna ◽  
Mass Loss Rate ◽  
Changbai Mountains ◽  
Mixed Species ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Litter Mass ◽  
Litter Mass Loss

Soil fauna play a key role in litter decomposition as they influence the litter mass loss rate in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the interaction between decomposing litter and soil fauna has not been adequately addressed. We examine the interaction between different types of decomposing litter and soil fauna on the Betula ermanii Cham. (BE) forest floor of the Changbai Mountains, China, by measuring the mass loss of six litter species groups using litterbags with two sizes of mesh (4 mm and 0.01 mm) during a yearlong experiment. Soil fauna were identified at the order level. We found that soil fauna have a limited effect on litter mass loss at the initial stage of the experiment. Its positive effect became apparent at month 12 of the experiment. After 1 year, soil fauna increased the litter mass loss rate of the high-quality litter of Parasenecio komarovianus (Pojark.) Y.L. Chen (PK) by 7.02% and of the low-quality litter of Rhododendron aureum Georgi (RA) by 25.26%. BE + PK litter was associated with a significantly higher abundance of soil fauna at months 8 and 10 of the experiment and also with a significantly higher richness of soil fauna at month 10 of the experiment. At the end of the experiment, however, the Shannon–Wiener diversity index of soil fauna was not necessarily higher in mixed-species litter. Litter mixing did promote the abundance, richness, and diversity of soil fauna during the warm season in the high-quality litter substrate of BE + PK. Our results illustrate that the impact of soil fauna on the litter mass loss of both single- and mixed-species litterbags ranges from a limited impact to a positive impact as litter mass loss advances. The soil fauna contribute more to the litter mass loss of the low-quality litter with higher C to N ratios than to those with a low C to N ratio. The promoting effect of litter mixing on the soil faunal community composition is only short term and is dependent on substrate quality.

scholarly journals Spatial Diversification of Bee (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apiformes) Assemblages in Forest Communities of the Suchedniów-Oblęgorek Landscape Park

2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-106
Author(s):  
Jolanta Bąk-Badowska
Keyword(s):  
Forest Floor ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Coniferous Forest ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Forest Communities ◽  
Canopy Layer ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Spatial Diversification ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
Forest Habitats

Abstract The aim of the study, carried out from April to October in 2004 and 2005, was to characterise bee (Apiformes) assemblages in the phytosociologically diversified forest communities of the Suchedniów-Oblęgorek Landscape Park. Moericke colour traps were used to capture the bees. The five study sites yielded 76 bee species. There was a predominance of representatives from the families Apidae (28 species, 900 individuals) and Andrenidae (20 species, 222 individuals). The indices of species diversity (H’) and evenness (J’) reached their highest values in a mixed coniferous forest (BM) site, and reached their lowest values in a fi r forest (BJ) site. Qualitative and quantitative similarity of assemblage structure was highest in assemblages in mixed coniferous forest, mesic coniferous forest, and oak-hornbeam forest habitats, decreasing in floristically poor habitats not favourable to nesting, i.e. fi r forest and riparian forest. Traps placed on the forest floor in ground cover contained more individuals and species of bees, with 1192 individuals (88.8%) and 76 species, than in the canopy layer, with 150 individuals (11.2%) and 23 species. This trend was consistent across all the habitats in the Landscape Park.

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