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Lenk A, Richter R, Kretz L, Wirth C. Effects of canopy gaps on microclimate, soil biological activity and their relationship in a European mixed floodplain forest. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 941:173572. [PMID: 38823707 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2024] [Revised: 05/25/2024] [Accepted: 05/25/2024] [Indexed: 06/03/2024]
Abstract
Forest canopy gaps can influence understorey microclimate and ecosystem functions such as decomposition. Gaps can arise from silviculture or tree mortality, increasingly influenced by climate change. However, to what degree canopy gaps affect the buffered microclimate in the understorey under macroclimatic changes is unclear. We, therefore, investigated the effect of forest gaps differing in structure and size (25 gaps: single tree gaps up to 0.67 ha cuttings) on microclimate and soil biological activity compared to closed forest in a European mixed floodplain forest. During the investigation period in the drought year 2022 between May and October, mean soil moisture and temperature as well as soil and air temperature fluctuations increased with increasing openness. In summer, the highest difference of monthly means between cuttings and closed forest in the topsoil was 3.98 ± 9.43 % volumetric moisture and 2.05 ± 0.89 °C temperature, and in the air at 30 cm height 0.61 ± 0.35 °C temperature. For buffering, both the over- and understorey tree layers appeared as relevant with a particularly strong influence of understorey density on soil temperature. Three experiments, investigating soil biological activity by quantifying decomposition rates of tea and wooden spatulas as well as mesofauna feeding activity with bait-lamina stripes, revealed no significant differences between gaps and closed forest. However, we found a positive significant effect of mean soil temperature on feeding activity throughout the season. Although soil moisture decreased during this period, it showed no counteracting effect on feeding activity. Generally, very few significant relationships were observed between microclimate and soil biological activity in single experiments. Despite the dry growing season, decomposition rates remained high, suggesting temperature had a stronger influence than soil moisture. We conclude that the microclimatic differences within the gap gradient of our experiment were not strong enough to affect soil biological activity considerably.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annalena Lenk
- Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Leipzig University, Johannisallee 21, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Ronny Richter
- Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Leipzig University, Johannisallee 21, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstraße 4, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Lena Kretz
- Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Leipzig University, Johannisallee 21, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Christian Wirth
- Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Leipzig University, Johannisallee 21, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstraße 4, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Straße 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
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Simon A, Fierke J, Reiter EJ, Loguercio GA, Heinrichs S, Putzenlechner B, Joelson NZ, Walentowski H. The interior climate and its microclimatic variation of temperate forests in Northern Patagonia, Argentina. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOMETEOROLOGY 2024; 68:719-730. [PMID: 38279025 DOI: 10.1007/s00484-024-02617-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2023] [Revised: 12/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/28/2024]
Abstract
Knowledge on mesoclimatic zonation and microclimatic variations within mountain forest ecosystems is crucial for understanding regional species turnover and effects of climate change on these systems. The temperate mountain forests in the Andean region of South America are among the largest and contiguous natural deciduous forest areas in the world. Due to their pronounced disturbance regime and different successional stages, a climatic zonation combined with the characterisation of its microclimatic variation is important to identify thresholds of species occurrences.We used micro-loggers to measure air temperature and relative humidity for one year at 40 measurement locations along longitudinal and elevation gradients in mountain forests in Northern Patagonia, Argentina. Our results unveil mesoclimatic patterns within these forests characterised by variations in temperature and vapour pressure deficit along the elevational gradient in general, but also at different times of the year. For example, Austrocedrus chilensis and Nothofagus dombeyi forests differed mainly by temperature and its diurnal range in the warmest months of the year. Also, differences between forest stands and gaps were more pronounced in the warmest months of the year and at lower elevations, with up to 2.5 K higher temperatures in the second half of the day in gaps. We found clear indications that shrubland of Nothofagus antarctica representing a successional stage after disturbances alters the mesoclimatic pattern, favouring forest fire ignition. Such mesoclimatic variations have a major influence on tree species turnover and ecological processes within these forest ecosystems.The findings contribute to our understanding of the complex interplay between topography, climate, and vegetation in shaping the spatial patterns of species occurrences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alois Simon
- Faculty of Resource Management, HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Jonas Fierke
- Faculty of Resource Management, HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Göttingen, Germany
- Department of Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing, Institute of Geography, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Ernesto J Reiter
- Plant Ecology and Ecosystems Research, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Gabriel A Loguercio
- Andean Patagonian Forest Research and Extension Center (CIEFAP), Esquel, Argentina
- Faculty of Engineering, Department of Forestry, National University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina
| | - Steffi Heinrichs
- Faculty of Resource Management, HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Göttingen, Germany
- Silviculture and Forest Ecology of the Temperate Zones, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Birgitta Putzenlechner
- Department of Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing, Institute of Geography, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Natalia Z Joelson
- Faculty of Resource Management, HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Göttingen, Germany
- Faculty of Biology and Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Helge Walentowski
- Faculty of Resource Management, HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Göttingen, Germany.
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