Concern about the potential effects of Nitrogen deposition on forests embraces almost all the forest ecosystem's compartments, including vegetation, soil biota, soil and soil solution, and run-off. Much emphasis was put on the role of N as a (i) factor stimulating growth, thus enhancing Carbon uptake; (ii) as a possible cause of nutritional imbalance, thus causing possible problems with tree health because of altered susceptibility to pests and disease; and (iii) as a factor altering the composition and richness of ground vegetation. In the frame of the Italian monitoring programme CONECOFOR, a study was undertaken to investigate the effect of actual N deposition and exceedance of N Critical Load (CL) on the forest vegetation at selected forest ecosystems spread across a range of environmental condition and deposition leads. At these plots atmospheric deposition have been measured over the past 15 years together with a suite of other variables, including meteorology, ozone, soil- and foliar nutrition, species diversity, tree health and growth. The study was conducted ad follows: firstly, the Simple Mass Balance (SMB) method was used to estimate CL and calculate exceedance with respect to the actual deposition lead; secondly, a set of predictors and response variables was identified. Thirdly, sub-sets of predictors were used to investigate effects of N deposition on the nutritional status of the plots and to model the response variable of interest; finally, the model's residuals (modeled-measured) were evaluated, in order to detect relationships between the response and the N deposition and CL exceedances. Results of this study will be presented and in terms of N deposition, CL exceedances, and estimated effects on tree health, growth and species diversity.
Nitrogen deposition in forest sites in Italy: effects on health, growth and diversity of forest vegetation in Italy
Marchetto Aldo;Matteucci Giorgio;
2012
Abstract
Concern about the potential effects of Nitrogen deposition on forests embraces almost all the forest ecosystem's compartments, including vegetation, soil biota, soil and soil solution, and run-off. Much emphasis was put on the role of N as a (i) factor stimulating growth, thus enhancing Carbon uptake; (ii) as a possible cause of nutritional imbalance, thus causing possible problems with tree health because of altered susceptibility to pests and disease; and (iii) as a factor altering the composition and richness of ground vegetation. In the frame of the Italian monitoring programme CONECOFOR, a study was undertaken to investigate the effect of actual N deposition and exceedance of N Critical Load (CL) on the forest vegetation at selected forest ecosystems spread across a range of environmental condition and deposition leads. At these plots atmospheric deposition have been measured over the past 15 years together with a suite of other variables, including meteorology, ozone, soil- and foliar nutrition, species diversity, tree health and growth. The study was conducted ad follows: firstly, the Simple Mass Balance (SMB) method was used to estimate CL and calculate exceedance with respect to the actual deposition lead; secondly, a set of predictors and response variables was identified. Thirdly, sub-sets of predictors were used to investigate effects of N deposition on the nutritional status of the plots and to model the response variable of interest; finally, the model's residuals (modeled-measured) were evaluated, in order to detect relationships between the response and the N deposition and CL exceedances. Results of this study will be presented and in terms of N deposition, CL exceedances, and estimated effects on tree health, growth and species diversity.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
