Impact of Populus Plantations on Water and Soil Quality

Abstract

Trees of genus Populus (in our context primarily poplars) are predominantly grown in Sweden in small plantations on arable land in southern and central parts of the country to produce biomass for energy and other purposes. This study evaluated the effects (i) of poplar plantations on groundwater quality, by determining differences in leaching of nitrogen and phosphorus to groundwater, and (ii) of poplar and hybrid aspen plantations on soil quality in terms of carbon in the top-and subsoil. The study was conducted comparing Populus plantations in Sweden with adjacent fields with cereals and grasslands. The experiment concerning the groundwater leaching was conducted in eight poplar plantations along three growing seasons (2012)(2013)(2014)(2015). For the soil carbon experiments, 19 poplar and two hybrid aspen plantations and the respective reference fields were sampled. NO 3 -N leaching from poplar plantations was significantly lower than that from reference fields with cereals, but not when compared with grasslands. Spring NO 3 -N leaching was significantly lower in poplars than in the reference fields, whereas leaching of NO 3 -N in autumn did not differ. Concentrations of PO 4 -P in the groundwater of poplar plantations were lower compared to the respective ones of the reference fields. There were no clear trends observed when comparing carbon concentrations in the topsoil of the poplar and hybrid aspen plantations compared to the respective adjacent reference fields. For the subsoil, the average carbon concentrations in the poplar and hybrid aspen plantations were equal to the respective ones of cereals, but were higher when compared to grassland.

Phosphorus availability and leaching losses in annual and perennial cropping systems in an upper US Midwest landscape

“…Due to their low fertilization requirements, perenniality, and high biomass production, grasses like miscanthus and switchgrass 20 – 22 as well as short-rotation poplar 23 – 25 might also reduce nutrient leaching while offering other environmental benefits 26 , 27 . Most studies of nutrient leaching from these kinds of cropping systems have examined nitrogen, however; there are relatively few studies of P leaching from perennial crops 24 , 28 , 29 .…”

Strategic deployment of riparian buffers and windbreaks in Europe can co-deliver biomass and environmental benefits

“…Co-benefits of windbreaks. N emissions to water from SRC or SRF systems can be considered marginal 55,58,59 . Following the same assumptions as for water erosion, avoided N emissions to water (per hectare and year) was estimated in each landscape as the product of share of area under annual crops used for windbreaks in the two different windbreak designs, and current N emissions to water.…”

The Impact of Poplar Short Rotation Coppice on Topsoil Physical Properties and Related Water Conditions

“…The impacts of SRC on water resources have been widely studied [3][4][5][6][7]. Soil-related investigations have mainly focused on the impacts of SRC on soil ecology [8][9][10][11][12][13], whereas changes on soil physical properties have been poorly studied. Evaluations of soil properties mainly occurred as part of an assessment of site characteristics affecting SRC size, quality and sustainability of yields [14,15].…”