Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research

About: Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research is a facility organization based out in Birmensdorf, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Climate change & Soil water. The organization has 1256 authors who have published 3222 publications receiving 161639 citations. The organization is also known as: WSL.

Effects of aluminium treatment on Norway spruce roots : Aluminium binding forms, element distribution, and release of organic substances

Abstract: In order to investigate if Al resistance in Norway spruce (Picea abies[L.] Karst.) can be attributed to similar exclusion mechanisms as they occur in several crop plants, three-year-old Norway spruce plants were treated for one week in hydroculture with either 500 μM AlCl3 or CaCl2 solutions at pH 4. Sequential root extraction with 1 M NH4Cl and 0.01 M HCl and EDX microanalysis revealed that Al and Ca in cell walls and on the surface participated in exchange processes. About half of the Al extracted by the sequential extraction was not exchangeable by 1 M NH4Cl. Phenolics and phosphate present in the root extracts are possible ligands for Al adsorbed to or precipitated at the root in a non-exchangeable form. In both treatments, C release during the first period of 2 d was much higher than during the remaining time of the experiment. Al treated plants released less total C, carbohydrates and phenolics than did Ca treated plants. Acetate was the only organic acid anion that could be detected in some samples of both treatments. Free amino acids were present at micromolar concentrations but as hydrolysis did not increase their yield, there was no evidence of peptide release. One to two thirds of the released C were large enough not to pass a 1 kDa ultrafilter. The results suggest that exudation of soluble organic complexors is not a major Al tolerance mechanism in Norway spruce, although complexation of Al by phenolic substances released by the root could be detected by fluorescence spectroscopy. Aluminium tolerance could rather be attributed to immobilization in the root apoplast, where strong binding sites are available or precipitation may occur.

New star on the stage: amount of ray parenchyma in tree rings shows a link to climate.

Abstract: Summary Tree-ring anatomy reflects the year-by-year impact of environmental factors on tree growth. Up to now, research in this field has mainly focused on the hydraulic architecture, with ray parenchyma neglected despite the growing recognition of its relevance for xylem function. Our aim was to address this gap by exploring the potential of the annual patterns of xylem parenchyma as a climate proxy. We constructed ring-width and ray-parenchyma chronologies from 1965 to 2004 for 20 Juniperus thurifera trees growing in a Mediterranean continental climate. Chronologies were related to climate records by means of correlation, multiple regression and partial correlation analyses. Ray parenchyma responded to climatic conditions at critical stages during the xylogenetic process; namely, at the end of the previous year's xylogenesis (October) and at the onset of earlywood (May) and latewood formation (August). Ray parenchyma-based chronologies have potential to complement ring-width chronologies as a tool for climate reconstructions. Furthermore, medium- and low-frequency signals in the variation of ray parenchyma may improve our understanding of how trees respond to environmental fluctuations and to global change.

Carbon sequestration in forest soils: effects of soil type, atmospheric CO2 enrichment, and N deposition

Abstract: Soil contains the major part of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems, but the response of this carbon to enriching the atmosphere in CO 2 and to increased N deposition is not completely understood. We studied the effects of CO 2 concentrations at 370 and 570 μmol CO 2 mol -1 air and increased N deposition (7 against 0.7 g N m -2 year -1 ) on the dynamics of soil organic C in two types of forest soil in model ecosystems with spruce and beech established in large open-top chambers containing an acidic loam and a calcareous sand. The added CO 2 was depleted in 13 C and thus the net input of new C into soil organic carbon and the mineralization of native C could be quantified. Soil type was the greatest determining factor in carbon dynamics. After 4 years, the net input of new C in the acidic loam (670 ± 30 g C m -2 ) exceeded that in the calcareous sand (340 ± 40 g C m -2 ) although the soil produced less biomass. The mineralization of native organic C accounted for 700 ± 90g C m -2 in the acidic loam and for 2800 ± 170 g C m -2 in the calcareous sand. Unfavourable conditions for mineralization and a greater physico-chemical protection of C by clay and oxides in the acidic loam are probably the main reasons for these differences. The organic C content of the acidic loam was 230 g C m -2 more under the large than under the small N treatment. As suggested by a negligible impact of N inputs on the fraction of new C in the acidic loam, this increase resulted mainly from a suppressed mineralization of native C. In the calcareous sand, N deposition did not influence C concentrations. The impacts of CO 2 enrichment on C concentrations were small. In the uppermost 10 cm of the acidic loam, larger CO 2 concentrations increased C contents by 50-170 g C m -2 . Below 10cm depth in the acidic loam and at all soil depths in the calcareous sand, CO 2 concentrations had no significant impact on soil C concentrations. Up to 40% of the 'new' carbon of the acidic loam was found in the coarse sand fraction, which accounted for only 7% of the total soil volume. This suggests that a large part of the CO 2 -derived 'new' C was incorporated into the labile and easily mineralizable pool in the soil.

Modified micro suction cup/rhizobox approach for the in-situ detection of organic acids in rhizosphere soil solution

Abstract: Root–soil interactions can strongly influence the soil solution chemistry in the rhizosphere. In the present study we propose a modification of the classical rhizobox/micro suction cup system to make it suitable for the collection and analysis of organic acids in the rhizosphere. In order to show the potential of the method, we tested the modified system with Lupinus albus L. as a model plant known to exude large amounts of citrate. The suction cups were installed through the transparent front plate of the rhizoboxes just after the emergence of cluster roots in order to allow optimal localized collection of soil solution. A small dead-volume allowed almost immediate stabilisation with formaldehyde of the sampled soil solutions in the collection container to prevent microbial degradation. The concentrations of organic acids were significantly larger in the rhizosphere soil solution of active cluster roots of Lupinus albus L. than in the bulk soil solution (about 400 µM of citrate versus <0.05 µM). We were able to follow the exudation process in-situ, which occurred during 2–3 days. Also the concentrations of other organic acids and inorganic anions differed between the bulk soil and the rhizosphere of cluster roots, normal roots, and nodules.

Deadwood volume assessment in the third Swiss National Forest Inventory: methods and first results

Abstract: The Swiss National Forest Inventory (NFI) is expected to provide reliable data about the current state of the Swiss forests and recent changes. Since the first Swiss NFI (1982–1986) a deadwood assessment has been part of the inventory. However, the definition of deadwood used was restricted and only parts of the total deadwood volume were assessed. A broader definition was therefore used in the second NFI (1993–1995) and coarse wood debris (CWD) was also assessed using line intersect sampling in the third NFI (2004–2006). This paper discusses the development of the definition of deadwood from the first to the third Swiss NFI, as well as the tally rules and estimators used in assessing deadwood in the ongoing third NFI. Different definitions of deadwood were applied in two Swiss regions and the resulting volume estimates were compared. The definition of deadwood appears to be crucial for the estimate of deadwood volumes, which were significantly underestimated in the first and second Swiss NFI. The minimum diameter and other limits applied must be chosen with special care. Up to 30 m3/ha of deadwood was found in Swiss forests varying with the region. There was little evidence of significant correlations between deadwood volume and such forest parameters as management, site or stand attributes. The proposed target values for the volume of deadwood have been generally reached, whereas the number of snags per hectare has not.