The effect of drought on forest tree species' nourishment: the chosen path of phosphorus cycling

Marfo, Theodore Danso

This research sought to evaluate the effect of drought on forest tree species with emphasis on bio-available phosphorus obtained via phosphorus cycling. Soil samples were collected at root zone depth from areas of varied altitudes and tree species thus H-horizon soils from the mountain Spruce forest at Bily Kriz, A-horizon soils from both the young Spruce monoculture at Rajec and Beech forest at Stitna. Acid phosphatase activity of the various soil samples was measured in optimal conditions of the enzyme in the laboratory using the already in use protocol developed by Tabatabai and Bremner (1969) and some modifications made by Rejsek (1991). Two other protocols were developed by this research by replacing the buffer component of the first with water to mimic the unstable pH situation which occurs in nature and simulating a drought situation in the laboratory by incubating the soil sample with powdered form of the substrate used in the original protocol and adding water after the hour-long incubation. The laboratory analyses proved that global climate changes affects conservation of forest soil fertility via decreasing soil biological activity evaluated through phosphorus bio-availability. Soil phosphorus is indispensable for forest tree species' breeding hence important for European Forestry.

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