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Beginning in 1985, plots in a 120-year-old beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) stand in the province of Scania, southern Sweden were fertilized annually with ammonium nitrate. In August 1989, leaves from both fertilized and unfertilized trees were analyzed for mineral nutrients, soluble carbohydrates, amino acids and phenolic compounds. Leaf concentrations of total nitrogen were increased by N fertilization. Ammonium was not detected in the leaves, but NO(3) (-) was increased by up to 65% as a result of N fertilization. Nitrogen fertilization decreased foliar concentrations of P and Cu, leading to a nutrient imbalance relative to N. Of the free amino acids, glutamic acid and aspartic acid predominated and, together with glutamine and asparagine, were significantly increased by N fertilization. The concentrations of amides were 2-4 times higher in fertilized trees than in unfertilized trees. Soluble carbohydrates did not change in response to N fertilization, but total phenolic compounds decreased markedly. The reduced concentration of phenolics may explain the greater susceptibility to parasite attacks of trees exposed to N deposition and excess N.

The effects of aluminium on biomass, nutrients and soluble carbohydrates and phenols were studied in beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) seedlings. After germination, seedlings with cotyledons and the buds of the first leaf‐pair developed, were preconditioned for two weeks and then grown for 31 days in nutrient solutions containing 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 or 2.0 mM A1C13. Aluminium did not affect the dry weights of roots but at Al concentrations ≥ 1.0 mM the development of the terminal shoot above the first leaf pair, was reduced by 80% or more. The concentrations of most nutrients (P, Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu) in the plant tissues decreased strongly even at the lowest Al levels, but K increased in the shoots. The tissue concentration of N was not affected of Al. but the distribution between the organs was changed to a higher content of N in the roots. At ≥1.0 mM Al the concentrations of starch in both the shoots and the roots were significantly increased, and at ≥ 0.5 mM the roots contained more of total phenols than untreated seedlings. The elevated concentrations and contents of starch and phenols in the seedlings may partly be related to the reduced shoot growth. The observed effects of Al were marked already at Al levels found in soil waters from beech forests in southern Sweden.

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