scholarly journals Determining density and moisture content of the European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) coarse woody debris from the secondary virgin forest Rajhenavski Rog

2014 ◽  
Vol 103 ◽  
pp. 35-46
Author(s):  
Domen Finžgar ◽  
Matej Rupel ◽  
Miha Humar ◽  
Hojka Kraigher
2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (9) ◽  
pp. 2405-2413 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Kuehne ◽  
C. Donath ◽  
S. I. Müller-Using ◽  
N. Bartsch

To evaluate the importance of nutrient fluxes via leaching from coarse woody debris (CWD) in an area with high atmospheric nitrogen (N) inputs, throughfall and CWD leachate from logs at different stages of decomposition were investigated over a period of 14 and 27 months, respectively, in a 160-year-old European beech ( Fagus sylvatica L.) forest in northwestern Germany. Water samples, collected from 30 zero-tension lysimeters installed in pairs along 15 logs and from 27 neighboring raingauges, were chemically analyzed in the laboratory. Generally, as CWD decay advanced, the ratio of leachate to throughfall decreased, and the amount of dissolved nutrients in the leachate increased. With the exception of ammonium (NH4+) and dissolved inorganic carbon, the element concentrations in the CWD leachate were significantly higher than those in the throughfall. The concentrations of NH4+ and nitrate (NO3–) in the CWD leachate, which were very high compared with values from North American studies, were caused by the continuously high atmospheric N inputs, and the resulting N saturation in the forest ecosystem investigated. The low concentrations of the cations calcium and magnesium indicate that at this site nutrients limiting plant and fungal growth are retained and accumulated in the CWD.


2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (11) ◽  
pp. 2738-2745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffen Herrmann ◽  
Jürgen Bauhus

Carbon (C) loss from coarse woody debris (CWD) may be important in forest ecosystem C budgets, yet there are no standard methods of quantifying it. Here we assessed respirational C loss of log segments of European beech ( Fagus sylvatica L.) and Norway spruce ( Picea abies (L.) Karst.), to compare the two main measurement approaches (the static and dynamic methods using soda lime and an infrared gas analyser, IRGA) with three different measurement options for CWD logs. These included (i) incubation of the whole log segment, (ii) the use of small in situ chambers on the curved log surface, and (iii) extracted wedges of wood. On average, significantly higher amounts of CO2 were measured with the IRGA (125%) compared with soda lime. In addition, the soda lime method requires careful calibration of incubation length and amounts of soda lime used. Regardless of the measurement method and tree species, substantially higher amounts of CO2 were measured for whole log segments than for the other two options. Measuring respiration with small in situ chambers on logs or extracted wedges might underestimate real CO2 flux by up to 74%. We therefore recommend measurement of CWD respiration using gas analysers for large log segments.


Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
Tamalika Chakraborty ◽  
Albert Reif ◽  
Andreas Matzarakis ◽  
Somidh Saha

European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) trees are becoming vulnerable to drought, with a warming climate. Existing studies disagree on how radial growth varies in European beech in response to droughts. We aimed to find the impact of multiple droughts on beech trees’ annual radial growth at their ecological drought limit created by soil water availability in the forest. Besides, we quantified the influence of competition and canopy openness on the mean basal area growth of beech trees. We carried out this study in five near-natural temperate forests in three localities of Germany and Switzerland. We quantified available soil water storage capacity (AWC) in plots laid in the transition zone from oak to beech dominated forests. The plots were classified as ‘dry’ (AWC < 60 mL) and ‘less-dry’ (AWC > 60 mL). We performed dendroecological analyses starting from 1951 in continuous and discontinuous series to study the influence of climatic drought (i.e., precipitation-potential evapotranspiration) on the radial growth of beech trees in dry and less-dry plots. We used observed values for this analysis and did not use interpolated values from interpolated historical records in this study. We selected six drought events to study the resistance, recovery, and resilience of beech trees to drought at a discontinuous level. The radial growth was significantly higher in less-dry plots than dry plots. The increase in drought had reduced tree growth. Frequent climatic drought events resulted in more significant correlations, hence, increased the dependency of tree growth on AWC. We showed that the recovery and resilience to climatic drought were higher in trees in less-dry plots than dry plots, but it was the opposite for resistance. The resistance, recovery, and resilience of the trees were heterogeneous between the events of drought. Mean growth of beech trees (basal area increment) were negatively impacted by neighborhood competition and positively influenced by canopy openness. We emphasized that beech trees growing on soil with low AWC are at higher risk of growth decline. We concluded that changes in soil water conditions even at the microsite level could influence beech trees’ growth in their drought limit under the changing climate. Along with drought, neighborhood competition and lack of light can also reduce beech trees’ growth. This study will enrich the state of knowledge about the ongoing debate on the vulnerability of beech trees to drought in Europe.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lazar Pavlović ◽  
Dejan Stojanović ◽  
Emina Mladenović ◽  
Milena Lakićević ◽  
Saša Orlović

2007 ◽  
Vol 298 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anika K. Richter ◽  
Lorenz Walthert ◽  
Emmanuel Frossard ◽  
Ivano Brunner

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