Mineral supply of healthy and declining trees of a young spruce stand

Two subsamples of healthy and declining trees of the same spruce stand were studied for their biomass and mineral content. Calcium and Mg content of the stand was found to be of the same order of magnitude as the total amount of these elements on the exchangeable capacity of the soil. This result sh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water, air, and soil pollution air, and soil pollution, 1990-01, Vol.54 (special), p.269-280
Main Authors: Le Goaster, S, Dambrine, E, Ranger, J
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Two subsamples of healthy and declining trees of the same spruce stand were studied for their biomass and mineral content. Calcium and Mg content of the stand was found to be of the same order of magnitude as the total amount of these elements on the exchangeable capacity of the soil. This result shows that on poor soils fast growth of young stands is a powerful factor influencing soil impoverishment and acidification. The difference between the Ca and Mg content of yellow and green trees is equal to the amount of these elements which is taken up by the green trees during a 2 yr period. This suggests that this difference is the result of a rather long term trend of inadequate nutrient uptake. The evolution of Ca and Mg concentrations in relation to age of needles shows that declining trees support their growth by concentrating their Ca and Mg supply into the growing organs.
ISSN:0049-6979