The study is part of a project designed to elucidate the nutrient budget of a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stand. Results of variation in the nutrient contents were compared with those obtained for the previous growing season.

The potassium and calcium contents varied the greatest in the humus layer. However, in the bottom and field layer vegetation and needles the variation in the nitrogen content was the greatest. The nutrient contents of the needles were affected by the physiological stage of development, needle age and the position in the crown of the tree. The nutrient content of the rainfall increased in the order: free rainfall, throughfall, and stem flow.

The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.

Lehtonen, E-mail: il@mm.unknown

Category : Article

article id 7655, category Article

Leena Finér. (1989). Biomass and nutrient cycle in fertilized and unfertilized pine, mixed birch and pine and spruce stands on a drained mire. Acta Forestalia Fennica no. 208 article id 7655. https://doi.org/10.14214/aff.7655

Keywords: fertilization; Picea abies; Betula pubescens; peatland; biomass allocation; nutrient cycle; stand modelling

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

At the beginning of the investigation period the total biomass of the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands on the ordinary sedge pine mire was 48 t/ha. The biomass of the mixed stands of Scots pine and birch (Betula pubescens Erhr.) on the herbrich sedge pine mire was 91 t/ha, out of which 60% was from pine. The biomass of the Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) on the Vaccinium-Myrtillus spruce mire was 148 t/ha. The average annual net increment of the stand biomass was 5.8 t/ha in the unfertilized pine stand and 6.7 t/ha in the NPK and micronutrient fertilized one during the six-year investigation period. The corresponding figures in the mixed stand were 7.2 t/ha and 7.6 t/ha. The net increment of the biomass in the unfertilized spruce stand was 6.9 t/ha and in the fertilized 8.4 t/ha. A considerable proportion of the net increment was lost to the ground as litter in all stands.

The nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper and boron cycles were investigated. The annual nitrogen uptake from the soil was 26–42 kg/ha, that of phosphorus 2.5–3.4 kg/ha, potassium 4.5–12 kg/ha, calcium 12–29 kg/ha, magnesium 2–4 kg/ha, iron 1.4–6.6 kg/ha, manganese less than 2 kg/ha and the other nutrients only some grams. Only part of the fertilized nutrients was fixed in the stand.

The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.

Finér, E-mail: lf@mm.unknown

Category : Review article

article id 497, category Review article

Oili Kiikkilä. (2003). Heavy-metal pollution and remediation of forest soil around the Harjavalta Cu-Ni smelter, in SW Finland. Silva Fennica vol. 37 no. 3 article id 497. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.497

Keywords: mulch; copper; forest; ecosystem; Harjavalta; nutrient cycle; remediation; liming

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Heavy metals and sulphur have been emitted from the Cu-Ni smelter at Harjavalta since 1945. This article reviews the work that has been published in scientific journals after 1975 concerning heavy metal deposition and the effects of pollution on forest ecosystem around Harjavalta. The pollution has had diverse effects on boreal forest ecosystem, e.g. vegetation, nutrient cycle mediated by microbiota and soil animals, herbivorous insects and pathogens, resistance mechanisms of vegetation, and birds. The deposition of heavy metals has increased up to 30 km distance from the smelter. At 8 km distance the ecosystem began to approximate an undisturbed ecosystem where only slight changes in the understorey vegetation were observed. At 4 km distance the species composition of different ecosystem components (vegetation, insects, birds, soil microbiota) had changed and the growth of trees was retarded. At 0.5–1 km distance, where the nutrient cycling was disturbed and only the most resistant organisms were surviving, the ecosystem had ceased to carry out its essential functions. Remediation through liming or mulching with organic matter, of forest soil has had some positive effects on the ecosystem.

Kiikkilä, Vantaa Research Centre, Finnish Forest Research Institute, P.O. Box 18, FIN-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: oili.kiikkila@metla.fi

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