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| Titel |
Fast wood decay in a mountain Mediterranean area having Fagus sylvatica forests |
| VerfasserIn |
Giulia Fravolini, Markus Egli, Paolo Cherubini, Roberto Tognetti, Fabio Lombardi, Marco Marchetti |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2015
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 17 (2015) |
| Datensatznummer |
250102430
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2015-1746.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Deadwood and litter act as important linkages between recent productivity and current
community, and ecosystem processes. The increasing interest in the quantity and properties
of coarse woody debris (CWD) and litter is relevant both to maintaining biodiversity and to
global C dynamics. Mountain and Mediterranean areas, furthermore, are considered to be
especially sensitive to changing environmental conditions. Consequently, a need exists
to understand more in detail the interplay between soils, forests, deadwood and
climate in general and in particular in mountain Mediterranean areas such as the
Appenine. Due to the fact that linkages between climate, coarse woody decay and
soils in mountain Mediterranean areas are only poorly understood, we aimed at
investigating the decay mechanism of Fagus silvatica as a function of altitude and
exposure. Furthermore, the effects of exposure on the decay dynamics of dead wood
and soils were compared along a altitudinal sequence in an Appenine mountain
forest (Majella Mountain). Ten sites, five of which having north and the other 5
having south exposure, were investigated, ranging from 1000 m to 1650 m asl.
All sites have a Fagus sylvatica forest. In addition to this, experimental plots were
installed at each site. In May 2014 standardised wood blocks (5 x 5 x 2 cm) of
local Fagus sylvatica were placed at each site inside PVC tubes (‘mesocosms’) that
was filled with undisturbed soil material. The sampling design foresees that three
replicates of such mesocosms per site will be sampled after 8 , 16, 52 and 104 weeks.
After 8 weeks three tubes were removed from the sites (sampled soil and dead
wood blocks) and the wood blocks analysed for cellulose, lignin and density. At
each site, three cores were taken to analyse soil properties. The soil cores were
subdivided in 0 – 5, 5 – 10 and 10 – 15 cm depth and measured for organic carbon,
carbonates and pH. In addition, the humus forms at each site were determined. Already
after 8 weeks, the lignin content of the dead wood increased compared to the fresh
wood. The cellulose analysis, however, showed a slight decreasing trend (not always
statistically significant), both at the north and the south exposure. Especially at the
highest altitudes this decreasing trend was best expressed. The highest sites are the
coolest and also have enough moisture of during the dry summer months. Together
with the relatively warm conditions, decay processes seem to be enhanced there.
The humus forms nicely represented the climatic conditions with predominately
Mull at higher sites and particularly at north-facing sites and Amphi at lower and
warmer sites. Consequently, a fast wood decay also correlates with the humus form
Mull. |
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