It is known, that mountain soils (burozems, brown soil)) of the Ukrainian Carpathians, where grow the coniferous forests. are very acidic: pHKCl reaches 3,2-2,6 units. Due to the high acidity of the soil, rapidly progressing fungal diseases of trees. Hardwood is becomes less resistant to water (faster rotting) due to deficiency of Calcium in it. What happens to the acidity of the soil, if there will grow the coniferous forests? Can we fast-growing trees (like conifers) acid aggressors?
Please have a look at these useful links.
https://nsidc.org/data/docs/fgdc/ggd601_russia_soil_maps/russian_soil_desc.html
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12665-010-0745-6
When it comes to conifers there presence is associated with development of acidic soils and compared to hardwoods like oaks and maples they are also more adapted to acid soils. Hardwoods are generally favored where feasible because quality and value is more in many cases.
If your goal is to have sustainable hardwood production the liming of the soil would be recommended.
Even acid tolerant conifers will probably be negatively affected by soil acidity under pH 5 which will result in Aluminum beings released in solution.
The source of acidity can be related to many factors ammoniated fertilizer being the chief one in cultivated agriculture.
In areas of excess precipitation in relation to evaporation soil will be acidity prone and because of fossil fuel emissions many zones have acid rainfall.
Both species and cultivars can vary in acidity tolerance and preference.
In growing trees the use of co planting of Nitrogen fixing species will avoid the use of ammoniated fertilizer a prevalent acidity factor. Conifers interplanted with alders allow improved conifer growth with acidity for fertilizer because alders produce less acidification through symbiotic Nitrogen fixation than synthetic ammoniated fertilizer.
If you use acid tolerant species level of liming can be much less. The ability to develop your management to improve soil organic matter is very helpful in ameliorating acid soil issues.
If you are establishing seedlings the addition of amendments into the planting hole can help planting avoid many of most constraining toxicity and deficiency issues as plant coping mechanisms are able to moderate the vulnerability of the seedling stage.
Soil acidity is highly variable and liming can lead to alkalinity issues which cause micronutrient problems.
With modern sensing mechanisms the soil can ameliorated under a field condition according to its position.
Best wishes on your project.
Another very interesting question put forth . Infact soil has its own buffering capacity in terms of loosing and regaining their vitality to support plant growth, despite soil pH reading as low as 2.6-3.2 . There are also reports of developing water repellancy in such coniferous forests , disallowing bases to further leach down , beyond a certain limit depending upon the soils carrying capacity in a given ecosystem..
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