Effects of Ozone, Acid Mist and Soil Characteristics on Clonal Norway Spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) - Overall Results and Conclusions of the Joint 14 Months Tree Exposure Experiment in Closed Chambers.

This paper summarizes and evaluates the main findings of 14 preceding papers related to the joint 14-month tree-exposure experiment carried out by the ‘Munich Working Party on Air Pollution’ at the GSF, Munich, FRG, from July 1986 to September 1987. The experiment tested the hypothesis that an interaction of ozone/acid mist/soil/extreme climatic conditions is the cause of decline of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) at higher altitudes of the Inner Bavarian Forest. The main findings of the individual studies are presented and their implications for the hypothesis are discussed. Clear effects of soil and genetic factors (differences between clones), for example on growth and frost resistance were found. Treatment with O3/acid mist was shown to have effects on plant biochemistry, physiology, histology/ cytology, and growth. The wide scattering of these effects, and the lack of a consistent pattern of response across all clones does not permits a firm conclusion on the validity of the experimental hypothesis. These effects were not confounded by the nutrient stresses imposed during the initial exposure period and were not found to be cumulative during repeated treatments, as was proposed by the hypothesis. It is concluded that the experimental evidence does not indicate that ozone/acid mist are major factors to explain the Norway spruce decline on acidic sites at higher altitudes of the Inner Bavarian Forest and probably similar forest areas

Stoffdeposition durch Niederschlaege in ost- und suedbayerischen Waldbestaenden

Available from Universitaetsbuchhandlung Heinrich Frank, Muenchen (Germany, F.R.) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Standorts- und ernaehrungskundliche Untersuchungen zur Nutzung landwirtschaftlicher Flaechen fuer die Erzeugung von Biomasse mit schnellwachsenden Baumarten. Bd. 1 Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse fuer die Jahre 1983 bis 1987. Schlussbericht

Copy held by FIZ Karlsruhe; available from UB/TIB Hannover / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Effects of Ozone, Acid Mist and Soil Characteristics on Clonal Norway Spruce (Picea abies (L.) Kast.) - An Introduction to the Joint 14 Month Tree Exposure Experiment in Closed Chambers.

This paper introduces a series of publications referring to a single 14-month laboratory study testing the hypothesis that the recent decline of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) at higher elevations of the Bavarian Forest and comparable forests in medium-range mountains and in the calcareous Alps is caused by an interaction of elevated ozone concentrations, acid mist and site-specific soil (nutritional) characteristics. The effect of climatic extremes, a further important factor, was not included as an experimental variable but was considered by testing of the frost resistance of the experimental plants. Results of these individual studies are presented and discussed in the following 14 papers. Plants from six pre-selected clones of 3-year-old Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) were planted in April 1985 in an acidic soil from the Bavarian Forest, or a calcareous soil from the Bavarian Alps. After a transition period, plants were transferred, in July 1986, into four large environmental chambers and exposed for 14 months to an artificial climate and air pollutant regime based on long-term monitoring in the Inner Bavarian Forest. The climatic exposure protocol followed realistic seasonal and diurnal cycles (summer maximum temperature, 26°C; total mean temperature, 9·8°C; winter minimum, −14°C; mean relative humidity, 70%; maximum irradiance, 500 W m−2; daylength summer maximum, 17 h; winter minimum, 8 h). Plants were fumigated with ozone, generated from pure oxygen (control: annual mean of 50 μg m−3; pollution treatment: annual mean of 100 μg m−3 with 68 episodes of 130–360 μg m−3 lasting 4–24 h), and background concentrations of SO2 (22 μg m−3) and NO2 (20 μg m−3); windspeed was set at a constant 0·6 m s−1. Plants were additionally exposed to prolonged episodes of misting at pH 5·6 (control) and pH 3·0 (treatment). Simulation of the target climatic and fumigation conditions was highly reliable and reproducible (temperature ± 0·5°C; rh±10%; ozone ±10 μg m−3; SO2 and NO2 ± 15 μg m−3). &nbsp

Standorts- und ernaehrungskundliche Untersuchungen zur Nutzung landwirtschaftlicher Flaechen fuer die Erzeugung von Biomasse mit schnellwachsenden Baumarten Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse fuer die Jahre 1988 bis 1993. Abschlussbericht

An interdisciplinary field experiment with 4 fast growing poplar and willow clones was established in 1983 on land previously used agriculturally in order to investigate the influence of site, as well as the nutritional and growth aspects and the ecological consequences of this type of land use. At the end of the second rotation period (winter 1992) the height of the poplar clone Muhle Larsen amounted to 7 m, of the aspen Astria and the willow to about 5 m. Dry matter shoot biomass was 20 t/ha for Astria, 30 t/ha for the willow and 32 t/ha for Muhle Larsen. Production on soils subjected to high groundwater was lower than on moderately moist soils. Unfertilized poplars showed optimum nutrition even 10 years after planting. Nitrogen fertilization significantly enhanced shoot biomass only for Salix viminalis. Results of soil inventories in 1983, 1986 and 1992 showed a slight decrease of soil reaction by time. The organic matter and the total nitrogen concentration and the microbial biomass of the soils increased in layers near the soil surface and decreased in deeper layers of the former plough horizon, respectively. Species number of the ground vegetation increased at the afforested sites as compared with a control field. Some groups of the soil macrofauna (woodlice, earthworms, harvestmen) advanced in abundance and activity or showed an increase in biological diversity (carabid beetles). (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: F95B93+a / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekBundesministerium fuer Forschung und Technologie (BMFT), Bonn (Germany)DEGerman

Monitoring von Schaeden in Waldoekosystemen des bayerischen Alpenraumes

This regional multifactorial investigation addresses the dependence of vitality of Norway spruce and European beech (crown transparency, site index, root systems and nutritional status) on ecological factors and the presence of pathogens in mountain forests of the Bavarian Alps (Germany). Existing data on airborne deposition and ozone concentrations were supplemented by 2 elevational transects, in which wet bulk deposition was measured and ozone passive samplers were exposed during 2 vegetation periods. The distribution of crown transparency in spruce and beech as related to site conditions and its relationships with long-term stand growth, nutritional status and root morphology suggest that transparent crowns as observed in the Calcareous Alps are nothing new and unlikely to be caused by atmospheric pollution. Their distribution must be regarded as an old, long-lasting and natural pattern of tree vitality. (orig.)Es wurde die Abhaengigkeit der Vitalitaet von Fichten und Buchen (Kronentransparenz, Bestandesbonitaet, Wurzel- und Ernaehrungszustand) in den Bergwaeldern des Werdenfelser Landes (Oberbayern) von Standortsfaktoren und vom Befall durch pilzliche Pathogene mit einem regionalstatistischen, multifaktoriellen Ansatz untersucht. Vorhandene Daten zu Stoffeintrag und Ozonbelastung wurden durch eine zweijaehrige Beprobung des Freilandniederschlags und Ozon-Passivsammler-Messungen in zwei Hoehenprofilen ergaenzt. Die standortbezogene Verteilung der Kronentransparenz und ihre Beziehungen zum langfristigen Bestandeswachstum, zum Ernaehrungs- und Wurzelzustand legen nahe, dass es sich in den Kalkalpen nicht um neuartige, immissionsbedingte Waldschaeden, sondern um seit Alters her bestehende, natuerliche Vitalitaetsunterschiede handelt. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: RN 7632(155) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman