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The variations of aluminium species in mountainous forest soils and its implications to soil acidification

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Abstract

Aluminium (Al) speciation is a characteristic that can be used as a tool for describing the soil acidification process. The question that was answered is how tree species (beech vs spruce) and type of soil horizon affect Al speciation. Our hypotesis is that spruce and beech forest vegetation are able to modify the chemical characteristics of organic horizon, hence the content of Al species. Moreover, these characteristics are seasonally dependent. To answer these questions, a detailed chromatographic speciation of Al in forest soils under contrasting tree species was performed. The Jizera Mountains area (Czech Republic) was chosen as a representative mountainous soil ecosystem. A basic forestry survey was performed on the investigated area. Soil and precipitation samples (throughfall, stemflow) were collected under both beech and spruce stands at monthly intervals from April to November during the years 2008–2011. Total aluminium content and Al speciation, pH, and dissolved organic carbon were determined in aqueous soil extracts and in precipitation samples. We found that the most important factors affecting the chemistry of soils, hence content of the Al species, are soil horizons and vegetation cover. pH strongly affects the amount of Al species under both forests. Fermentation (F) and humified (H) organic horizons contain a higher content of water extractable Al and Al3+ compared to organo-mineral (A) and mineral horizons (B). With increasing soil profile depth, the amount of water extractable Al, Al3+ and moisture decreases. The prevailing water-extractable species of Al in all studied soils and profiles under both spruce and beech forests were organically bound monovalent Al species. Distinct seasonal variations in organic and mineral soil horizons were found under both spruce and beech forests. Maximum concentrations of water-extractable Al and Al3+ were determined in the summer, and the lowest in spring.

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Abbreviations

A horizon:

Organo-mineral soil horizon

Al(X)1+ :

Contains mainly Al(org.)≤1+ and Al(OH)2 +, Al(SO4)+, AlF2 +, etc.

Al(Y)2+ :

Contains Al(OH)2+, (AlF)2+, etc.

Al3+ :

Contains Al3+ and transformed Al hydroxy-polymers

AlH2O :

Total water-extractable Al

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

au CM:

Aluminic Cambisols

B horizon:

Spodic or cambic mineral horizon

DOC:

Dissolved organic carbon

DOM:

Dissolved organic matter

EMEP:

European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme

et PZ:

Entic Podzol

F horizon:

Fermentation organic horizon

H horizon:

Humified organic horizon

H. G.:

Homogenous group

ha PZ:

Haplic Podzol

HPLC-IC:

High-performance liquid chromatography equipped with ionic column

IC:

Ion chromatography

ICP:

Forest Manual International Co-operative Programme Forest Manual

NOx:

Nitrogen oxides

PRP:

Permanent research plots

PVC:

Polyvinyl chloride

rpm:

Revolutions per minute

SOM:

Soil organic matter

Std. dev.:

Standard deviation

VOSS:

Type of throughfall collector with a zig-zag adapter

w/v :

Weight per volume

WRB:

World Reference Base for Soil Resources

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Acknowledgments

The research was supported by grants from the Internal Grant Agency of Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CIGA) (no. 20132005), and the Ministry of Agriculture (no. QI92A216). We are also grateful to Foundation “Nadání Josefa, Marie a Zdeňky Hlávkových” for financial support. Special thanks belong to Petr Skřivan (Geological Institute AV ČR) for valuable advice. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Statement

The all co-authors were informed about submitting of manuscript “The variations of aluminium species in mountainous forest soils and its implications to soil acidification” by Bradová, M., Tejnecký, V., Borůvka, L., Němeček, K., Ash, Ch., Šebek, O., Svoboda, M., Zenáhlíková, J. and Drábek, O. All co-authors consent with submission of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science and Soil Protection, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Prague, Czech Republic

    Monika Bradová, Václav Tejnecký, Luboš Borůvka, Karel Němeček, Christopher Ash & Ondřej Drábek

  2. Agrovýzkum Rapotín Ltd., Výzkumníků 267, Vikýřovice, Czech Republic

    Monika Bradová

  3. Laboratories of the Geological Institutes, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Ondřej Šebek

  4. Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

    Miroslav Svoboda & Jitka Zenáhlíková

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  1. Monika Bradová
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  2. Václav Tejnecký
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Correspondence to Monika Bradová.

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Responsible editor: Zhihong Xu

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Bradová, M., Tejnecký, V., Borůvka, L. et al. The variations of aluminium species in mountainous forest soils and its implications to soil acidification. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 16676–16687 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4855-2

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