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The responses of Scots pine seedlings to waterlogging in a fine-textured till soil

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Abstract

Growth decline of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) on reforestation sites with fine-textured soils are suggested to be due to periodic soil wetness. In this study, Scots pine seedlings were exposed to waterlogging in fine-textured till soil in growth chambers. The treatments started 5 weeks after germination and lasted either for 3 or 8.5 weeks. Three weeks in water-saturated soil affected negatively the root length, root surface area, root volume, the number of root tips, the length of the longest root, root dry mass, the root to shoot ratio, needle water and nitrogen content, and the apoplastic electrical resistance of the stem. The changes by 3 weeks exposure were recoverable since most of the attributes returned to the level of controls when the oxygen content returned to a normoxic level. In contrast, detrimental, but not lethal, effects of water saturation were observed after exposure for 8.5 weeks. Additional effects of prolonged exposure were a decrease in the potential efficiency of photosystem II, the distribution of absorbed light energy between light reactions and the release as heat by chlorophyll fluorescence, and the chlorophyll content index of the needles. We conclude that prolonged water saturation of fine-textured soil is detrimental to the development of Scots pine seedlings which should be considered in practical forest regeneration.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Eija Koljonen, Anita Pussinen and Urho Kettunen for their technical assistance and Jaakko Heinonen for his advice on statistical analyses. The field expertise and soil sampling provided by Ilkka Aro at the Geological Survey of Finland is much appreciated. The study is funded by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) (Projects 1300359300 and 1300359500).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Management and Production of Renewable Resources, P.O. Box 68, 80101, Joensuu, Finland

    Tapani Repo

  2. Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Management and Production of Renewable Resources, Juntintie 154, 77600, Suonenjoki, Finland

    Juha Heiskanen

  3. Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Management and Production of Renewable Resources, P.O. Box 16, 96301, Rovaniemi, Finland

    Marja-Liisa Sutinen

  4. Geological Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 77, 96101, Rovaniemi, Finland

    Raimo Sutinen

  5. School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80101, Joensuu, Finland

    Tarja Lehto

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  1. Tapani Repo
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Correspondence to Tapani Repo.

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Repo, T., Heiskanen, J., Sutinen, ML. et al. The responses of Scots pine seedlings to waterlogging in a fine-textured till soil. New Forests 48, 51–65 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-016-9555-3

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