Forest Research Institute

About: Forest Research Institute is a facility organization based out in Dehra Dūn, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Forest management. The organization has 5320 authors who have published 7625 publications receiving 185876 citations.

Quantifying Carbon and Nutrient Input From Litterfall in European Forests Using Field Observations and Modeling

Abstract: Litterfall is a major, yet poorly studied, process within forest ecosystems globally. It is important for carbon dynamics, edaphic communities, and maintaining site fertility. Reliable information on the carbon and nutrient input from litterfall, provided by litter traps, is relevant to a wide audience including policymakers and soil scientists. We used litterfall observations of 320 plots from the pan-European forest monitoring network of the “International Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of AirPollution Effects on Forests” to quantify litterfallfluxes. Eight litterfall models were evaluated (four using climate information and four using biomass abundance). We scaled up our results to the total European forestarea and quantified the contribution of litterfall to the forest carbon cycle using net primary production aggregated by bioregions (north, central, and south) and by forest types (conifers and broadleaves). The 1,604 analyzed annual litterfall observations indicated an average carbon input of 224 g C · m2· year 1 (annual nutrient inputs 4.49 g N, 0.32 g P, and 1.05 g K · m2), representing a substantial percentage of net primary production from 36% in north Europe to 32% in central Europe. The annual turnover of carbon and nutrient in broadleaf canopies was larger than for conifers. The evaluated models provide large-scale litterfall predictions with a bias less than 10%. Each year litterfall in European forests transfers 351 Tg C, 8.2 Tg N,0.6 Tg P, and 1.9 Tg K to the forestfloor. The performance of litterfall models may be improved by including foliage biomass and proxies for forest management.

Postglacial recolonization history of the European crabapple (Malus sylvestris Mill.), a wild contributor to the domesticated apple

Abstract: Understanding the way in which the climatic oscillations of the Quaternary Period have shaped the distribution and genetic structure of extant tree species provides insight into the processes driving species diversification, distribution and survival. Deciphering the genetic consequences of past climatic change is also critical for the conservation and sustainable management of forest and tree genetic resources, a timely endeavour as the Earth heads into a period of fast climate change. We used a combination of genetic data and ecological niche models to investigate the historical patterns of biogeographic range expansion of a wild fruit tree, the European crabapple (Malus sylvestris), a wild contributor to the domesticated apple. Both climatic predictions for the last glacial maximum and analyses of microsatellite variation indicated that M. sylvestris experienced range contraction and fragmentation. Bayesian clustering analyses revealed a clear pattern of genetic structure, with one genetic cluster spanning a large area in Western Europe and two other genetic clusters with a more limited distribution range in Eastern Europe, one around the Carpathian Mountains and the other restricted to the Balkan Peninsula. Approximate Bayesian computation appeared to be a powerful technique for inferring the history of these clusters, supporting a scenario of simultaneous differentiation of three separate glacial refugia. Admixture between these three populations was found in their suture zones. A weak isolation by distance pattern was detected within each population, indicating a high extent of historical gene flow for the European crabapple.

Nitrogen Fixation by Gunnera–Nostoc Symbiosis

Abstract: THE genus Gunnera (Haloragaceae) contains forty species, all herbaceous, ten being endemic to New Zealand. Glands occurring at the bases of leaves become invaded by the blue-green alga Nostoc puntiforme1,2 which becomes intracellular3 and is capable of nitrogen fixation in culture2,4. Algal glands have been described for several New Zealand species5,6.

Effects of aluminium on growth and nutrient uptake of Betula pendula seedlings

Abstract: The response to aluminium concentrations was evaluated for birch seedlings (Betula pendula Roth, formerly Betula verrucosa Ehrh.) by using a growth technique that provides stable internal concentrations of nutrients in plants. Aluminium was added as aluminium nitrate and aluminium chloride and pH was kept at 3.8±0.2 by adding HCl or NaOH. The seedlings were grown in two different series of nutrient treatments, either with near-optimum conditions (relative addition rate 25% day−1) or with constant nutrient stress (relative addition rate 10% day−1) before the aluminium addition. Growth reduction occurred at aluminium concentrations greater than 3 mM, and lethal effects at aluminium concentrations greater than 15 mM. In plants subjected to near-optimum conditions before aluminium addition, the internal nutrient concentrations decreased with increasing aluminium concentration for all macronutrients. The concentration of the macronutrients N, K and P decreased gradually with increasing aluminium concentration, while the concentration of Ca and Mg decreased fairly abruptly when aluminium concentrations exceeded 1 mM. The same tendency was observed in nutrient stressed birch seedlings, but the pattern was more scattered. Relative growth rate of the seedlings was not affected by a low Ca/Al ratio. In all treatments, the molar Ca/Al ratio in/on the roots was below 0.2 at the end of the experiments. As decrease in growth occurs only at high aluminium concentrations, there is no reason to suggest that aluminium in acid soils is growth limiting for natural birch stands.