Monitoring and Modelling of Soil Properties in Forest Ecosystems

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Soil".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 July 2025 | Viewed by 3211

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Global Change Research Institute CAS, Brno, Czech Republic
Interests: soil geography; forest ecography

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil monitoring and modelling are related approaches toward ecosystem development study and subsequently to predictions of response on recent global change (GC). The natural processes of soil development preserved in forests are an irreplaceable advantage in modelling the effectiveness of landscape restoration practices. Forest soil development provides data for predicting plant community productivity, ecosystem stability or the potential natural vegetation form. However, a sufficiently probable estimation of soil development depends on detailed data collection at regular intervals from a representative set of plant communities. Soil properties monitoring offers frameworks to observe forest ecosystem development using nutrient balances in the vertical direction and erosion–sedimentation processes in the horizontal direction. Soil nutrient balances indicate changes in fertility due to enrichment or loss, whereas erosion–sedimentation processes indicate transitions downslope. Because of the dependence on time and space, information on soil development is desirable for estimating the adaptive capacity of forests to GC.

Dr. Pavel Samec
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • soil development
  • soil nutrient balance
  • erosion–sedimentation processes
  • environmental indicators
  • ecosystem restoration
  • soil mapping
  • vegetation ecology
  • forest monitoring
  • soil adaptation to global change

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 6166 KiB  
Article
Farmland Afforestation by Poplar Shelterbelts Increased Soil Inorganic Carbon but Showed Ambiguous Effects on Soil Organic Carbon as Revealed by Carbon Isotopic Composition: Inter-Fraction and Inter-Site Differences in Northern China
by Qianru Ji, Huan Jiang, Zhihong Xu, Meina Zhu, Shaoqing Zhang, Huimei Wang, Zhonghua Tang, Qiong Wang and Wenjie Wang
Forests 2025, 16(2), 328; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16020328 - 13 Feb 2025
Viewed by 233
Abstract
Afforestation has been considered to be the cost-effective way to sequestrate carbon (C) dioxide from the atmosphere in the soils, while concurrent responses of soil inorganic C (SIC) and soil organic C (SOC), and their turnover are still not well-defined. During the C [...] Read more.
Afforestation has been considered to be the cost-effective way to sequestrate carbon (C) dioxide from the atmosphere in the soils, while concurrent responses of soil inorganic C (SIC) and soil organic C (SOC), and their turnover are still not well-defined. During the C cycle, inorganic C is enriched in heavy isotopes (13C), while organic C, due to photosynthetic fractionation, is enriched in light isotopes (12C). This leads to distinct C isotope fractionation in terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, 72 paired soils (0–20 cm) from poplar shelterbelts and adjacent farmland sites were collected in six regions (Zhaozhou, Fuyu, Dumeng, Zhaodong, Lanling, and Mingshui) of northeastern China. Five soil fractions of dissolved organic C (DOC), particulate organic matter (POM), sand and stable aggregates (S + A), silt and clay (S + C), and resistant SOC (rSOC) and bulk soils were used in C content assay and the natural δ13C determination. The results showed that, compared with SOC, poplar shelterbelts resulted in SIC accrual in the soils across all six sites; however, only half of the six sites showed SOC accrual, indicating an ambiguous effect of afforestation on SOC. The natural δ13C method could identify the SOC turnover owing to the C isotopic discrimination. The δ13C–SOC-derived turnover ratio was 23%. When SIC was included in the δ13C measurement, bulk soils and four soil fractions (S + C, S + A, rSOC, DOC) showed a 2%–10% lower turnover percentage than the δ13C–SOC-derived turnover ratios. The SIC inclusion resulted in the dependency of δ13C–TC (TC = SIC + SOC) values on SOC (negative, R2: 0.21–0.44) and SIC content (positive, R2: 0.39–0.63). By contrast, when SIC was excluded, the δ13C–SOC values were independent of them (R2 < 0.18). Redundancy ordination analysis manifested that more SOC in the soils, together with more POM and farming uses would be accompanied with the lower δ13C values. Moreover, forest characteristics (e.g., age and density) and farmland backgrounds (e.g., crop history and distance between forest and farmland) could explain differences in δ13C-related features. Our results highlighted that SIC in natural δ13C determination underestimated the C turnover ratio in general. However, SIC storage should be included in the soil C sequestration evaluation owing to a general SIC accrual pattern across regions when compared with those of SOC. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring and Modelling of Soil Properties in Forest Ecosystems)
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11 pages, 26107 KiB  
Article
Spatial Distribution of Forest Soil Base Elements (Ca, Mg and K): A Regression Kriging Prediction for Czechia
by Vincent Yaw Oppong Sarkodie, Radim Vašát, Karel Němeček, Vít Šrámek, Věra Fadrhonsová, Kateřina Neudertová Hellebrandová, Luboš Borůvka and Lenka Pavlů
Forests 2024, 15(7), 1123; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15071123 - 28 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1100
Abstract
Base cations have declined within European forests due to leaching, accelerated by atmospheric acid deposition. This study aims at predicting the spatial distribution of pseudototal content of Ca, Mg, and K for coniferous, broadleaved and mixed forest stands. A harmonised database of about [...] Read more.
Base cations have declined within European forests due to leaching, accelerated by atmospheric acid deposition. This study aims at predicting the spatial distribution of pseudototal content of Ca, Mg, and K for coniferous, broadleaved and mixed forest stands. A harmonised database of about 7000 samples from the top mineral layer of 0–30 cm from the entire forest areas of the Czech Republic was used. A regression kriging model was used for spatial prediction of the content of the elements. The influence of the covariates used for the prediction was assessed using generalized additive models for location scale and shape (GAMLSS). The variance explained by the model was best for Ca with the R2 of 0.32, the R2 for Mg was 0.30, and the R2 for K was 0.26. Model fitting assessed by the ratio of performance to inter-quartile distance (RPIQ) showed K as the best fit with a value of 1.12, followed by Mg with the value 0.87, and Ca with 0.25. Ca exhibited the best prediction fit for the GAMLSS, compared with K and Mg, based on their AIC matrix values. The predicted spatial distribution in this study provides information for policy and will provide information for the sustainable management of forests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring and Modelling of Soil Properties in Forest Ecosystems)
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17 pages, 6077 KiB  
Article
Profile Development and Soil Properties of Three Forest Reclamations of Different Ages in Sokolov Mining Basin, Czech Republic
by Marko Spasić, Oldřich Vacek, Kateřina Vejvodová, Luboš Borůvka, Václav Tejnecký and Ondřej Drábek
Forests 2024, 15(4), 650; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15040650 - 2 Apr 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1376
Abstract
Forestry reclamation practices have been very popular in the second half of the last century, and many spoil heaps have been converted into forests since. In our experiment, three forest reclamations of different ages (~90, ~50, and ~30 years) and three soil vegetation [...] Read more.
Forestry reclamation practices have been very popular in the second half of the last century, and many spoil heaps have been converted into forests since. In our experiment, three forest reclamations of different ages (~90, ~50, and ~30 years) and three soil vegetation covers (I—maple and cherry, II—maple, and III—alder) from Sokolov, Czech Republic, were investigated. In each of the three stands, two soil profiles have been dug, and both disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were taken from all recognized horizons. Samples were tested for bulk and particle density, porosity, water retention capacity, pH (H2O, KCl), cation exchange capacity, oxidizable carbon content, organic matter quality, plant available nutrients, and risk elements. A comparison of these properties throughout the profile, as well as between the stands, was presented. A significant role of stand age in soil profile development and soil quality was observed, as well as the tendency of the anthropogenic mine Technosol to evolve into a forest Cambisol in this climate region and parent material. Influence of forest vegetation cover was observed to ameliorate soil properties by accumulating organic matter, thus reducing compaction and increasing CEC and nutrient availability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring and Modelling of Soil Properties in Forest Ecosystems)
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