This study reports dynamic changes in the beech forest vegetation during one decade, using 95 permanent observation areas representing a wide variety of soils and management regimes. Current soil acidification, including decreasing pH and base cation pools, increasing solubility of toxic elements and increasing deposition of N, as well as recent changes in the beech forest management have created good conditions for the study. Most species of vascular plants increased their frequencies during the 1980's. However, there were several notable exceptions, in particularGalium odoratum, Viola riviniana/reichenbachiana, Polygonatum multiflorum, andMercurialis perennis. These species, demanding a comparatively low soil acidity for survival, are distinctly disfavoured by the long-term soil changes in the forests, which seem to have approached or exceeded their limits of existence in many sites. With most other species, differences in management regimes between the beginning and the end of the observation period were more important to the frequency changes. Sensitive to heavy thinning of the stands were, e.g.Oxalis acetosella, Lamium galeobdolon andMelica uniflora, favoured by thinning wereStellaria nemorum, Carex pilulifera, Milium effusum and an appreciable number of more ephemeral species normally occurring in clear-cut areas or otherwise open land, e.g.,Rubus idaeus, Galeopsis tetrahit, Athyrium filix-femina, Juncus effusus, Agrostic capillaris, Veronica officinalis, Urtica dioica, andMoehringia trinervia. Saplings of woody plants usually also became more frequent during the 1980's.

Dynamic floristic changes of Swedish beech forest in relation to soil acidity and stand management

The objective of this study was to examine the differences in elemental composition between two species of bryophytes. These two species (Bazzania trilobata and Dicranum fulvum) were collected from the Bear Brook paired forested watersheds. One watershed has been treated with (NH4)2SO4 to simulate acidic atmospheric deposition and the other was a control. Samples were analyzed for standard nutrients (Al,B,Ca,Cu,Fe,K,Mg,Mn,N,P,Zn) plus lead and cadmium in November and December 1992. Nitrogen levels for samples collected on the treated area were significantly higher but other nutrients tended to be depressed on the treated area. Lead levels were high on both areas relative to reference levels from remote parts of the world.

C. Storm

Papers

Relationships between forest decline and undergrowth: a case study in the southeastern Black Forest, German Federal Republic.