Environment and Mineral Nutrients of Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in South Sweden

Changes in the concentrations of major, minor and rare-earth elements during leaf senescence and decomposition in a Fagus sylvatica forest

“…Among the transition metals, the only element with concentration loss was Mn, which occurred between previous year(s)' litter and the O-horizon. This element is known to be taken up and re-circulated efficiently by beech on acid soils (Andersson et al, 1989) and high concentrations are measured in the throughfall of beech canopies (Bergkvist and Folkeson, 1992).…”

“…The same is true of Zn, though to a relatively lower degree. Copper, with high concentrations in macrofungi and especially in Clitocybe odora (Table 3) is less easily lost by leaching but re-circulated efficiently by beech, which seems to have higher tissue concentrations of this element than most other vascular plants (Andersson et al, 1989). There must be a fierce competition for this element among beech roots and fungal hyphae, though ectomycorrhizal fungi probably mediate the transfer of Cu to the root.…”

Macronutrients in tree stems and foliage: a comparative study of six temperate forest species planted at the same sites

“…In spruce forests in the province of Scania, Ca was the only macroelement that showed a good correlation between nutrient concentration in needles and in soil [34,35]. Studies of the southern Swedish beech forests [4,7] have shown that for Ca, Mg, Mn and N the nutrient concentrations in buds and leaves were related to nutrient concentrations in the soil, but soil alone did not account for the major part of the variation in leaf nutrient concentrations.…”

“…The concentration of Ca in forest trees can vary over a very wide range [11,47] depending on soil conditions [4,7,34,35] as well as plant water consumption [5,24]. High concentration of Ca in Norway spruce needles compared to the foliage of other coniferous species and silver birch have been previously reported for plantations on productive soils [3].…”

“…Foliar nutrient concentrations are most often used for the evaluation of plant nutrient status and, according to Augusto et al [6], are more sensitive to soil nutrient conditions than nutrient concentrations in stem biomass. Despite the fact that good correlations are rarely observed between nutrient concentrations in plant biomass and non-fertilized forest soils, most often Ca, and sometimes also Mg and N, are the macroelements that show a consistent relationship [4,7,34,35].…”