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Publications

NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.

2016

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Abstract

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in surface waters is connected to DOC in soil solution through hydrological pathways. Therefore, it is expected that long-term dynamics of DOC in surface waters reflect DOC trends in soil solution. However, a multitude of site studies have failed so far to establish consistent trends in soil solution DOC, whereas increasing concentrations in European surface waters over the past decades appear to be the norm, possibly as a result of recovery from acidification. The objectives of this study were therefore to understand the long-term trends of soil solution DOC from a large number of European forests (ICP Forests Level II plots) and determine their main physico-chemical and biological controls. We applied trend analysis at two levels: (1) to the entire European dataset and (2) to the individual time series and related trends with plot characteristics, i.e., soil and vegetation properties, soil solution chemistry and atmospheric deposition loads. Analyses of the entire dataset showed an overall increasing trend in DOC concentrations in the organic layers, but, at individual plots and depths, there was no clear overall trend in soil solution DOC. The rate change in soil solution DOC ranged between −16.8 and +23 % yr−1 (median  = +0.4 % yr−1) across Europe. The non-significant trends (40 %) outnumbered the increasing (35 %) and decreasing trends (25 %) across the 97 ICP Forests Level II sites. By means of multivariate statistics, we found increasing trends in DOC concentrations with increasing mean nitrate (NO3−) deposition and increasing trends in DOC concentrations with decreasing mean sulfate (SO42−) deposition, with the magnitude of these relationships depending on plot deposition history. While the attribution of increasing trends in DOC to the reduction of SO42− deposition could be confirmed in low to medium N deposition areas, in agreement with observations in surface waters, this was not the case in high N deposition areas. In conclusion, long-term trends of soil solution DOC reflected the interactions between controls acting at local (soil and vegetation properties) and regional (atmospheric deposition of SO42− and inorganic N) scales.

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Abstract

Extensive draining at tropical ombrotrophic peatlands in Southeast Asia has made these landscapes a global ‘hot spots’ for greenhouse gas emissions. Management practices and fires have changed substrate status, which affects microbial processes. Here, we present data on how change in management practices affect carbon (C) mineralization processes at these soils. We compared the C mineralization potentials of undrained swamp forest peat to those of abandoned peat (deforested, drained and burned peatlands in degraded condition) at various depths, with and without additional substrates (glucose, glutamate and nitrate), under oxic and anoxic conditions through ex situ experiments. Carbon mineralization (CO2 and CH4 production) rates were higher in the forest peat, with higher litter deposition and C availability. Production rates decreased with peat depth coinciding with decreasing availability of labile C. Consequently, the increase in production rates after labile substrate addition was relatively modest in forest peat as compared to the abandoned site and from the top layers as compared to deeper layers. Methanogenesis had little importance in total C loss. Adding labile C and nitrogen (N) enhanced heterotrophic CO2 production more than only addition of N. Surprisingly, oxygen availability did not limit CO2 production rates, but anoxic respiration also yielded substantial rates, especially at the forest peat. Flooding of these sites will therefore reduce, but not completely cease, peat C-loss. Reintroduced vegetation and fertilization in abandoned peatlands can enrich the peat with labile C and N compounds and thus lead to increased microbiological activity.