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BTU
Soil water
(2010)
Competition for above- and below-ground resources depends on their availability and results in varied growth partitioning. This becomes clear as the supply and limitation of the main resources influence the slope of the size-growth relationship in stands. Nevertheless, growth partitioning among trees, especially among black locust (R. pseudoacacia) trees is not understood in sufficient detail. To scrutinize and estimate the mode of competition of R. pseudoacacia, this research analyzed 1333 trees in Germany in 10 study sites, consisting in total 27 sample plots, with similar climate but varying soil conditions. The stand age ranged from 2 to 32 years, with a diameter at breast height ranging from 0.6 to 29.1 cm. The main focus of the study was to evaluate the impact of nitrogen, phosphorus, and water supply on the competition mode of R. pseudoacacia by varying growth partitioning. We applied the size–growth relationship in a mixed-effects model with a random intercept and slope. Fixed effects were the basal area, phosphorus, water, the sunlight competition index, and the interactions between below- and above-ground resources. Site specific effects of the analyzed stands were quantified with the aid of the random effects. Depending on the supply and limitation of phosphorus and water, this study determined how the competition mode as well as the growth partitioning among R. pseudoacacia trees were influenced. Hence, if phosphorus and water availability increased, then the competition for above-ground resources (primarily sunlight) and the slope of the size–growth relationship increased. Large trees grew disproportionately more than smaller trees. If the available phosphorus and water decreased, then the competition for the below-ground resources increased and the slope of the size–growth relationship decreased – to be more flattened. Moreover, it was found that available nitrogen as a below-ground resource had no influence on the mode of competition. In summary, phosphorus was the most important nutrient and, together with water, was the main driver of growth partitioning among R. pseudoacacia trees.
Top soils in temperate climates are regularly covered by cryptogames. Depending on the climatic and environmental conditions and their development stage, these biocrusts are built up by different species of cyanobacteria, bacteria, green algae, mosses, liverworts, lichens and fungi, which crosslink the uppermost soil particles. Biocrusts create a thin surface layer of high biotic activity, with high C and nutrient pools and fluxes to deeper soil layers, where the soil tends to be biotically and biogeochemically less active. Changes in soil structure, e.g. due to the accumulation of organic material and the ability of biological nitrogen fixation, result in significant feedback and control of biogeochemical processes. We analysed the response of photosynthesis and respiration to changing temperature and light in two moss-and lichen-dominated soil crusts from a dry acid grassland in the vicinity of a pine forest in Brandenburg, Germany. For the estimation of carbon fluxes, we combined lab-based CO2 gas exchange measurements and continuous determination of biocrust drying and rewetting cycles under field conditions. These experiments facilitated the development of an empirical photosynthesis model that allows for an estimation of the carbon dynamics of biological soil crusts based on their ecophysiological performance.
Organic matter from biological soil crusts induces the initial formation of sandy temperate soils
(2014)
Different development stages of algae-dominated and moss-dominated biological soil crusts (BSCs) were sampled on a natural sand dune (b17 years old) and on an experimental sand dune (b8 years old) along a catena, including gradients of vegetation cover, location on the slope, as well as composition and thickness of BSC organisms in northeastern Germany. The accumulation of BSC-derived organic carbon (OC)was determined for bulk materials and fractions less than 63 μm. The OC composition was characterized by solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy and the carbohydrate-C signature. 14C contents were determined to assess the origin and dynamics of OC. From the radiocarbon contents, two OC pools were differentiated: recent BSC-derived and lignite-derived “old” OC. Downward movement of OC into the underlying substratewas found only undermoss-dominated BSCs at the old sand dune. BSC-derived OC was mainly composed of carbohydrate-C and, to a lesser extent, alkyl C and N-alkyl C, with considerably higher contributions of alkyl C in the young dune, indicating differences in the composition of extracellular polymeric substances produced by the BSCs with age. This is consistent with higher proportions of water-soluble OC of moss-dominated BSCs at the old dune, which is leached in the underlying substrate and initiates soil formation. Because of the channeling effect of mosses, OC depth translocation along with suspended colloidal substances contribute to OC accumulation in substrates.
In a recultivation area located in Brandenburg, Germany, five types of biocrusts (initial BSC1, developed BSC2 and BSC3, mosses, lichens) and non-crusted mineral substrate were sampled on tertiary sand deposited in 1985- 1986 to investigate hydrologic interactions between crust patches. Crust biomass was lowest in the non-crusted substrate, increased to the initial BSC1 and peaked in the developed BSC2, BSC3, the lichens and the mosses. Water infiltration was highest on the substrate, and decreased to BSC2, BSC1 and BSC3. Non-metric multidimensional scaling revealed that the lichens and BSC3 were associated with water soluble nutrients and with pyrite weathering products, thus representing a high nutrient low hydraulic feedback mode. The mosses and BSC2 represented a low nutrient high hydraulic feedback mode. These feedback mechanisms were considered as synergic, consisting of run-off generating (low hydraulic) and run-on receiving (high hydraulic) BSC patches. Three scenarios for BSC succession were proposed. (1) Initial BSCs sealed the surface until they reached a successional stage (represented by BSC1) from which the development into either of the feedback modes was triggered, (2) initial heterogeneities of the mineral substrate controlled the development of the feedback mode, and (3) complex interactions between lichens and mosses occurred at later stages of system development.
It is commonly accepted that CO2 efflux increases with soil water content in aerated soils and that rewetting after periods of soil drying can result in respiration pulses. It has further been shown that soil pores may become water logged which can impede soil gas exchange. The present study aimed to quantify the carbon response of moss (Polytrichum piliferum) and lichen (Cladonia coniocraea) biocoenoses to different quantities of rain in an artificial catchment, which granted that the starting point of the development of both biocoenoses was the same. To address this aim, we conducted in situ soil moisture and soil respiration measurements, where soil respiration was hypothesised to emerge from a cryptogamic vegetation layer and from mineral soil beneath. We found that higher water-holding capacity of the moss layer and higher accumulation of organic matter in the upper mineral soil under mosses result in higher amounts of water stored near the surface. As a consequence, evaporation of water as well as pulses of CO2 efflux after moderate rain following a period of drought were higher in the moss biocoenosis, where the upper mineral soil was of key importance. In contrast, the lichen biocoenosis facilitated penetration of rainwater into the deep soil. Superimposing rewetting pulses, near-saturation of soil pores with water after severe rain resulted in gas exchange inhibition and diminished soil respiration until subsequent aeration in both biocoenoses