Improved soil conditions in European forests

Researchers from ten countries have examined the changes in the chemistry of soil water in 171 forests across Europe. The study concludes that the amount of sulphate in forest soil waters has dropped during the period from 1996 to 2012. This is accompanied by a decrease in mineral nutrients such as calcium, magnesium and potassium.

Leader of the study, Jim Johnson from the University College Dublin, says that the sulphate drop suggests that the rate of nutrient losses from forest soils has slowed down.

”This is good news for forest soils as it helps maintain their nutrient pools,” he adds. ”Also, there is less aluminium in forest soil water now than before, which is good as aluminium can be damaging to tree roots should it reach high concentrations.”

Nicholas Clarke from the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research says the results of the study clearly show that international agreements concerning acid rain have had an effect. 

 “In the 1980s, acid rain was one of the major environmental issues in Europe. Widespread concerns about damage to forests, rivers and lakes led to international agreements curbing emissions of sulphur and nitrogen – air pollutants that acidify rain” he says.

The key question behind the study, has been to find out what effect these reductions have had on forest soil waters.

”We’re happy to see that they’ve had a positive effect”, says Clarke. ”Not only is there a drop in sulphate, we’ve also observed a decrease in the amount of nitrate. This is positive as many forest soils, especially in countries south of Norway, have been highly saturated with nitrogen earlier.”

Soil acidification is slowing down

Like sulphate, surplus nitrate in soil water can result in nutrient leaching from forest soils. Nitrate contaminates groundwater when present in large amounts and endangers its use as drinking water.

Elisabeth Graf Pannatier from WSL in Switzerland says that although the amount of nitrate in forest soil waters has decreased, nitrogen pollution from traffic emissions and agriculture is still an important issue for forests and soils in many parts of Europe.

”Our study highlights general trends in the water quality of forest soils in Europe, in which soil type and degree of pollution play an important role,” she says.

Mathieu Jonard from UCL in Belgium adds that the study shows that soil water acidity has not recovered from the fast soil acidification caused by acid rain in the past.

”Indeed, the acidification process which naturally occurs in soils is still ongoing, but now at a slower rate than before”, he says.

Continued monitoring is needed

Due to the large amounts of acidifying substances that have been deposited to forests and the capacity of soils to store them, it may take several more decades before soil water chemistry adjusts to current rainfall chemistry. As such it is important to keep monitoring the situation.

”Soil water chemistry contains essential information; for instance it tells us whether nutrients in the soil are available for tree uptake, and to what extent nutrients are being leached from the soil”, says Nicholas Clarke.

”As far as nitrogen saturation is concerned, this isn’t a major problem in Norwegian forest soils, at least not in comparison to countries further south. Even so, it is important to continue analysing soil water chemistry on a regular basis seeing as a surplus of other elements such as sulphur and aluminium can be problematic, especially in already nutrient-depleted soils,” he adds.