Anthropogenic acidification effects in primeval forests in the Transcarpathian Mts., western Ukraine

Changes of forest abiotic environment in the Western Carpathians assessed using phytoindication

“…Despite the large distance dividing their study area from industrial centres, the evidence of acidification was present in the samples. The results agree with the findings of Oulehle et al (2010) pertaining to the same mountain range. Interestingly, the latter authors did not observe substantial soil acidification in another part of the Ukrainian Carpathians, next to the Slovak border.…”

“…1) collected at the same permanent plots. The 1960s can be characterized as the decade of a sharp increase of industrial emissions (Oulehle et al 2010), but at that time the pollution impact on forest health in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids area was just beginning to show. The damage culminated at the end of the 1970s (Vacek 2003).…”

“…This discrepancy was explained as the result of differing parent bedrocks at both localities. On the other hand, the analysis of the soil drainage water collected in the area less affected by acidification revealed intensive leaching of nitrogen, suggesting a high level of eutrophication (Oulehle et al 2010). Another notable exception is the Polish study on the forest health status in national parks.…”

Fluctuations in the properties of forest soils in the Central European highlands (Czech Republic)

“…The nature of the relationship among some of the soil parameters is that of an exponential function (Lee et al 2003) but in longer time periods they are subject to cyclic oscillations (Heuvelink & Webster 2001). Degradation of forest soils was most influenced by erosion after deforestation, acid deposits, and repeated cultivation of monocultures (Evans et al 2001;Klimo et al 2006;Oulehle et al 2010). During the post-war period, the territory of the Czech Republic was strongly affected by acid deposits (Akgöz et al 1995).…”

“…This pollution calamity peaked in 1979-1994, and thermal power stations were completely desulphurized in 1998 (Klimo et al 2006). The time series of soil parameters witnessed the period of post-war reconstruction , the culminating pollution calamity (1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994), the subsequent stabilization of soil conditions (1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000), and the manifestations of residual acidification (Oulehle et al 2010). A combination of goniometric and exponential functions enabled the testing of hypotheses relating to medium-term stable, regularly or irregularly variable and constantly rising/declining fluctuation trends of forest soil properties.…”