Research, monitoring and modelling in the study of climate change and air pollution impacts on forest ecosystems

5 – 7 October 2010, Rome

Availability and evaluation of European forest soil monitoring

data within the ICP Forests Monitoring

Programme

Nathalie Cools and Bruno De VosForest Soil Co-ordinating Centre, Belgium

http://fscc.inbo.be

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UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution

ICP Forests

Large-scale forest condition monitoring (level I):• Objective: Monitoring of forest condition and its spatial and temporal changes on a systematic grid across Europe (16 x 16 km grid)• About 6000 plots• Surveys:

– Crown condition (defoliation, discolouration, damage visible to the trees) ANNUALLY

– Foliar chemistry (1400 plots)

– Soil chemistry

www.icp-forests.org

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UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboudary Air Pollution

ICP ForestsIntensive monitoring (Level II)• Objective: Integrated evaluation of

different surveys to understand complex ecosystem processes

• About 800 plots• Major forest types in Europe are

represented• Surveys:

– Crown condition– Foliar chemistry– Soil chemistry– Tree growth– Ground vegetation– Stand structure incl. deadwood– Epiphytic lichens– Soil solution chemistry– Atmospheric deposition– Ambient air quality– Meteorology– Phenology– Litterfall– Remote sensing

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European soil databases within ICP Forests

Systematic Monitoring Sites Level I

Permanent Monitoring

Sites Level II

Commission Regulation EEC no. 926/93 Forest Soil Condition Database

Commission Regulation EEC no. 3528/86FIMCI database

Commission Regulation EEC no. 2152/2003 (Forest Focus) BioSoil demonstration projectLevel I

Commission Regulation EEC no. 2152/2003 (Forest Focus) BioSoil demonstration project

Profile descriptions and samples fromgenetic horizons

Profile descriptions and samples fromgenetic horizons

Composite samplesfixed depths

(O, M01, M12)

Composite samplesfixed depths

(O, M01, M12)

Composite samplesfixed depths

(O, M01, M12, M24, M48)

Composite samplesfixed depths

(O, M01, M12, M24, M48)

Intensive Monitoring Sites (IM1)

Life + FutMon project 2009/2010

Subset of Level II: 127 plots

Profile descriptions and samples fromgenetic horizons

Composite samplesfixed depths

(O, M01, M12, M24, M48)

1994 - 1995 2006 - 2007

2009 - 2010

ICP Forest Manual IIIa, 1994 ICP Forest Manual IIIa, update 2006

ICP Forest Manual IIIa, update 2006 + FutMon Field protocol soil moisture (D3)

1995 - 1996

Qual

ity

contr

ol

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Forest Soil Condition Database

Fixed depths or recalculated from horizons into fixed depth intervals (0 – 10 – 20 – 40 –80 cm)

Organic layer 0 – 10 cm 10 – 20 cm

Sampled layers

1990 – 2000 (1995)

1985 – 1996 (1994)

Time span of sampling

2430N° countries

7385289N° plots

ICP-Forests Manual (UN/ECE 1994)

ICP-Forests Manual (UN/ECE 1994)Commission Regulation EEC no. 926/93 (CEC, 1993)

Methods

IIILevel

Level II, Ravels, BE, Plot N°14

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Forest Soil Condition Database Level I

28%

60%

21%

6%

85%

88%

81%

83%

40%

95%

100%

%

573

869

2984

1099

4636

4633

4686

2448

2259

3430

Surface

N° plots

11%

16%

56%

21%

88%

88%

89%

46%

43%

65%

%

3

338

987

553

995

996

996

551

371

510

Subsurface

N° plots

4%

6%

19%

10%

19%

19%

19%

10%

7%

10%

%

4400Organic layer mass

Coarse fragments (meas.or est.)

Bulk density (meas. or est.)

Texture (measured or estimated)

1503Na, Fe, Al, Mn, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn (Aqua regia)

3173P, K, Ca, Mg (Aqua regia)

1115Exchangeable elements (BCE, ACE, CECe, BS, Exch. Acidity)

325Carbonate content

4471OC

4670Total N

4262pH(CaCl2)

Organic layerSoil parameters at layer level

2132Parent material

5013Soil unit (FAO, 1989)

5289Altitude class (50 m intervals)

N° plotsGeneral parameters

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Quality improvement between 1997 and 2006

• More harmonised methods both in field and in lab:– All countries used same fixed depth intervals (0 – (5) – 10 – 20 – 40 – 80 cm)

– Description of organic subhorizons (OL, OF, OH, Hf, Hfs, Hs) and peat layers

– Min. N° of subsamples in composite, sampling design

• Laboratory methods are refined– Texture analysis by pipette method; USDA texture triangle

– Distinction ‘total’ and ‘total total’ analysis

• Laboratory reference methods are mandatory– Application of ISO standards

– Follow up by ring tests every other year

– Follow up by FSCC soil reference material during BioSoil survey

• Soil classification– Profile description and laboratory analyses mandatory

– World Reference Base for Soil Resources (2006, 2007) mandatory

• Humus classification– Harmonised definitions (advised by European Humus Research Group, 2005)

• Improvement overlay with Crown Condition Survey– Forest soil condition often on (subset of) NFI plots

– BioSoil survey on systematic 16 x 16 km grid

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BioSoil+

Optional/ mandatory according to ICP Forests manual 2006

All parameters of manual were mandatory on all layers

Parameters

- Composite samples at fixed depths:

• Organic layer (OL, OFH-layers or H-layers, peat)

• Mineral soil layer (0 – (5) - 10 – 20 – 40 - 80 cm)

- Samples from genetic horizons from profile pit descriptions

Sampled layers

- Field: more detailed site and profile description (to be reported)

- Lab:measured bulk density; stone content; texture by pipette; total elements; acid oxalate extractable elements

New compared to first inventory

2006 - 20092004 - 2008Time span

– ICP-Forests Manual IIIa (2006)

- Guidelines for soil profile description [FAO (1990) or FSCC (2006)]

- Soil geographical database of Eurasia and the Mediterranean: instruction guide 4.0 (Lambert et al., 2002)

Methods

1722N° Countries

1274928N° plots

Level IILevel I

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BioSoil+ Level I

--3 %133Total elements (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na)

43 %11027 %1321Acid oxalate extractable Fe and Al

80 %

56 %

0 %

71 %

72 %

72 %

58 %

72 %

Completeness

3934

2784

3476

3544

3544

2848

3546

OFH - layer

N° plots

H-layers (peat)

241

201

15

144

241

241

231

241

N° plots

56 %Organic layer mass

6 %Carbonate content

79 %Exchangeable elements (BaCl2 unbuffered)

95 %Aqua regia extractable elements

Soil parameters at layer level

CompletenessOrganic layer

95 %pH(CaCl2)

91 %pH(H2O)

95 %Total N

95 %OC

• Few important parameters less covered (e.g. France)• Aqua regia extractable elements better covered

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BioSoil+ Level I

8%39312%543Total Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na

Total elements

47%217953%2473Reactive Al, Fe

Acid oxalate extractable elements

29%136687%4046Micronutrients and heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Cd, Zn, Al, Fe, Cr, Ni, S, Na)

51%237385%3977Macronutrients (P, Ca, K, Mg, Mn)

Aqua regia extractable elements

63%292785%3956Exchangeable acidity, free H+, Fe, Al, Mn, Ca, K, Mg, Na

Exchangeable elements

19%87324%1130Carbonates

54%253493%4345Total N

65%303593%4345Total Organic Carbon

62%291077%3586pH(H2O)

65%303693%4350pH(CaCl2)

pH, OC, N and carbonates

49%226876%3549Coarse fragments (vol % or mass %)

63%292689%4180Measured or estimated bulk density of the fine earth

63%295880%3722Texture class (and % clay, silt and sand)

Physical soil parameters

Mineral subsurfaceMineral surface4673

%N° plots%N° plotsN° of mineral soil plots:

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BioSoil+ Level I: WRB Reference Soil Groups

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FSCdbase and BioSoil+: shared plots

Distance > 2 km

Distance ≤ 2 km

Not in common

Level IILevel I

10 (8%)80 (2%)

95 (75 %)2326 (47 %)

22 (17%)2522 (51%)

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Preliminary analysis: change in soil pH in upper 10 cm of mineral soil

• Overall significant decrease of 0.03 pH units (paired t-test, p= 0.0005, 95% confidence interval [-0.052, -0.015 ])

Stratification by pH classesStratification by RSG

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Stratification by pH classes

2.6 3.0 3.4 3.8 4.2 4.6 5.0 5.4 5.8 6.2 6.6 7.0 7.4pH(CaCl2) in upper 10 cm of mineral soil (BioSoil+)

0

100

200

300

400

Forest soil condition BioSoil+

2.4 3.2 4.0 4.8 5.6 6.4 7.2 8.0pH(CaCl2) in upper 10 cm of mineral soil (FSC)

0

100

200

300

400

1.3191.366St. dev.

764NA’s

22662266Total N

7.707.85Max.

4.144.20Median

2.722.50Min

BioSoilFSC

Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Class 5

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Stratification by pH classes

0.71380.055 -0.0380.009> 6Class 5

0.83530.100-0.0810.0105 - 6Class 4

0.26030.016-0.061-0.0224 - 5Class 3

0 **-0.035-0.080-0.0583.2 - 4Class 2

0 **-0.10 -0.226-0.163≤ 3.2Class 1

P-value95 % confidence limitsMean differencepH(CaCl2)

0.059

0.107

0.014

-0.035

-0.107

-0.032

-0.072

-0.064

-0.080

- 0.233

95 % confidence limits

**

**

0.011> 6Class 5

0.0115 - 6Class 4

-0.0264 - 5Class 3

-0.0573.2 - 4Class 2

-0.163≤ 3.2Class 1

Mean differecepH(CaCl2)

Paired t-test

After bootstrapping of the mean difference:

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Stratification by WRB Soil Reference Group

254

11

57

82

56

146

182

213

252

368

645

N°plots

-0.05

-0.01

-0.03

0.04

0.01

-0.08

-0.06

-0.01

-0.04

-0.02

Mean dif.

254Other

11Unknown

0.082-0.10157Stagnosols

0.065-0.14782Umbrisols

0.194-0.11556Gleysols

0.094-0.080146Luvisols

**-0.021-0.132182Arenosols

*-0.002-0.114213Leptosols

0.026-0.063252Podzols

**-0.008-0.081368Regosols

0.016-0.058645Cambisols

95 % confidence interval+

N°plots

RSG

+ for LP: 90%

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Conclusions

• Paneuropean soil databases of ICP Forests network: – Soil chemical data available for forest soil monitoring– Good base line of soil physical data– Soil water availability: under development on subset of Level II– Harmonised field and lab methods– Quality control by regular interlaboratory comparisons– Monitoring data: 2421 plots, time interval ± 13 years– Covered parameters old+new:

• pH(CaCl2)• TOC• Total N• CECe, BS, BCE, ACE, Exch. Acidity, BS• Aqua regia extractable elements in organic layer

• Preliminary analysis of pH(CaCl2) in upper 10 cm on 2266 plots:• Decrease of pH in acid forest soils. No change pH(CaCl2) > 4.• The lower the pH class, the bigger the decrease.• Decrease of pH in Regosols, Arenosols and Leptosols.