Quantification of Phosphorus Exports from a Small Forested Headwater-Catchment in the Eastern Ore Mountains, Germany
Institute of Soil Science and Site Ecology, TU Dresden, Pienner Str. 19, 01737 Tharandt, Germany
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Academic Editor: Henning Meesenburg
Forests 2017, 8(6), 206; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8060206
Received: 13 April 2017
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Revised: 4 June 2017
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Accepted: 7 June 2017
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Published: 10 June 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intensity of Forest Management—Selected Papers from FowiTa German Forest Sciences Conference (Sessions 10–14))
Phosphorus (P) export from forest soils is mainly driven by storm events, which induce rapid flow processes by preferential flow bypassing large parts of the soil matrix. However, little is known about the dynamics, magnitude, and driving processes of P exports into surface waters. In this paper, we present the results of a monitoring study in a small forested catchment (21 ha) situated in the low mountain ranges of Saxony, Germany. During the fixed schedule-sampling (weekly to bi-weekly sampling frequency for a three-year period), a mean total-P concentration of 8 μg·L−1 was measured. However, concentrations increased up to 203 μg·L−1 during individual storm flow events. Based on the analyzed concentrations and continuously measured discharge we calculated mean annual export rates of 19 to 44 g·ha−1·a−1 for the weekly sampling frequency with different load calculation methods. If events are included into the annual load calculation, the mean annual export fluxes can be up to 83 g·ha−1·a−1 based on the different load calculation methods. Predictions of total-P export rates based on a sampling strategy which does not consider short-term changes due to factors such as storms will substantially underestimate P exports.
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Keywords:
forested catchments; phosphorus exports; load calculations
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MDPI and ACS Style
Julich, S.; Benning, R.; Julich, D.; Feger, K.-H. Quantification of Phosphorus Exports from a Small Forested Headwater-Catchment in the Eastern Ore Mountains, Germany. Forests 2017, 8, 206. https://doi.org/10.3390/f8060206
AMA Style
Julich S, Benning R, Julich D, Feger K-H. Quantification of Phosphorus Exports from a Small Forested Headwater-Catchment in the Eastern Ore Mountains, Germany. Forests. 2017; 8(6):206. https://doi.org/10.3390/f8060206
Chicago/Turabian StyleJulich, Stefan, Raphael Benning, Dorit Julich, and Karl-Heinz Feger. 2017. "Quantification of Phosphorus Exports from a Small Forested Headwater-Catchment in the Eastern Ore Mountains, Germany" Forests 8, no. 6: 206. https://doi.org/10.3390/f8060206
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