Soil-forming effect of Douglas fir at lower altitudes - a case study

Abstract

Forest ecosystem and in particular forest soil biodiversity and stability could be jeopardised by the impropriate tree species composition. Douglas fir is a species which has a high potential in Europe both from economic and biodiversity aspects of forest management. A more detailed analysis of Douglas fir effects on the humus forms and forest soil under different conditions is needed to evaluate the future use of this species in central European forests. The study plots cover acid sites with natural hardwood, spruce monoculture and Douglas fir stands. The soil analysis proved favourable effects of this species on soil chemistry, organic matter as well as nutrient dynamics. When compared with domestic coniferous species, Douglas fir proved to have lower acidifying effects on upper soil layers and contributes to better humus forms, recycling nutrients more effectively and producing litter which could be easily decomposed.

Carbon sequestration in soil following afforestation of former agricultural land in the Czech Republic

“…However, from the statistical analysis, there is evident, that coniferous tree species accumulate more upper-layer humus (Schulp et al 2008;Wiesmeier et al 2013;Grüneberg et al 2014) and that is why they often have a substantial content of accumulated carbon (Menšík et al 2009a;Kupka et al 2013). On the other hand, this well documented difference between coniferous and deciduous tree species has in our study a lower importance compared to significant influence of site conditions (Augusto et al 2003;Holubík et al 2014).…”

Comparison of Wood Quality of Douglas Fir and Spruce from Afforested Agricultural Land and Permanent Forest Land in the Czech Republic

“…The soil is a Luvisol. The standing volume was 507 m 3 ·ha −1 for spruce and 579 m 3 ·ha −1 for Douglas fir [15]. The age of all felled trees at both sites was around 60 years.…”

“…Afforestation of agricultural lands constitutes a serious change in soil dynamics, including soil structure, organic matter and nutrient dynamics [11][12][13][14]. Compared to Norway spruce, Douglas fir shows less negative effects on the forest soil [15,16] and herb vegetation layer [17], and thus Douglas fir can represent a very convenient substitute for declining spruce, at least as a part of its non-native range in commercial forests [18]. Douglas fir also appears promising under local conditions in terms of wood quality [19].…”

Effects of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco) on understorey layer species diversity in managed forests

“…Voloscuk (2012) did not document any remarkable changes in soil chemistry, overall soil, light, water and in general microclimatic conditions in Douglas-fi r stands compared to native tree species. Despite this, there are some indications that Douglas-fi r promotes more intensive nitrogen dynamics, which can be refl ected by the trends of the ground vegetation towards more ruderal character (Trum et al 2011, Kupka et al 2013. In any case, more detailed research is necessary (Schmid et al 2014).…”