I would be interested to hear about rooting depth of alder trees and the effect on peat quality. To my knowledge the peat layer of alder swamps is comparatively shallow compared to other fens systems, i.e. in some case only few decimeters. I would suspect that this phenomenon is inter alia also linked to the fact that there is oxygen release in the rhizosphere but also the N fixation by roots might be of importance?! For the rooting depth I found this work: https://academic.oup.com/forestry/article/83/2/163/519324 stating that it can be up to 5 m?! However, I wonder if peat of alder swamps is typically more decomposed because of the mentioned root activity or is it the fact that naturally alder swamps experience naturally larger water table fluctuations?!
....check this paper just published in Annals of Botany: https://academic.oup.com/aob/article/127/3/337/5992261.
BR
Nils
Many thanks Nils!
Indeed a very interesting article also giving good implications for new carbon sequestration upon rewetting of alder fens! However, I am really curious to hear if the rather high degree of peat decomposition is a typical feature of alder swamps due to high (?) oxygen release of alder roots and N fixation or is it just the fact that ground water fluctuations are typically (?) several decimeter per year as found fx. in floodplain areas ...
BWD
ps there is another interesting aspect of using alder wood from rewetted sites also termed "paludiculture", something I was just applying by myself for dividing the children room; a great (hopefully) sustainable building material?!
Hi Dominik,
regarding the substrate properties you may check following document: http://mires-and-peat.net/media/map24/map_24_32s.pdf. See section 1.11 Alder peat. Indeed paludiculture => I like to combination of conserving wetland management and long-term carbon capturing...
BR
Nils
Hi Nils,
this is indeed a fantastic reference work illustrating very nicely different peat deposits using very good images and descriptions. Yes alder peat is also well described and it seems that decomposition must be not necessarily high, i.e. can be even moderately decomposed according to the von Post scale. (H4 - H6). Accordingly the effect of "root activity" seems to be not as significant as expected by myself!
BWD
It influences by soil and climate of that location. Generally an Alder tree have a tap root system, normally 0.5-1.80 m deep. The little depth side roots are very well developed, with over 75% of the total root system growing within 60 cm of the surface. These side roots intertwine with each other and ramify to form a root network which is more or less parallel to the soil surface.
@Sudip, many thanks for the important information on root depth and distribution. In this context I heard yesterday and interesting mechanism/trait. There is a "ventilation system" transporting the air down to the roots activated by sun shining on the bark of the alder. The slight increase of pressure makes the air moving downwards guided by an obviously smart "pipe system" (Aerenchyma?). Also very fascinating for me that someone discovered this "nice trick"! Something which might be interesting also for our human technology, maybe applied already or just not fulfilling our high demands ;-)?!
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