The Impact of Anthropopreassure and Weather Conditions on the Mineral Nitrogen Content in the Organic Soils from Fen Peatlands (Stołowe Mountains, Sw Poland)

Abstract

1234Abstract.At the turn of the 19 th and 20 th centuries large peatland areas of the Stołowe Mountains were drained for the forestry use. The aim of the study was to assess the real impact of the natural (climate) and anthropogenic (forestry drainage) factors on the actual nitrogen mineralization in the shallow organic soils in the Stołowe Mountains National Park (SMNP). For the needs of the study, two research transects were established on the fen peatlands located in the central part of the SMNP. Each transect consisted of three sampling plots. The soil samples for the basic soil properties analysis were sampled in April, while undisturbed soil samples for mineral nitrogen were collected in April (spring), July (summer) and October (autumn) to show the seasonal dynamics of nitrogen mineralization. The obtained results revealed that the currently investigated fen peatland soils were rather slightly affected by the drainage network remains. A vast domination of ammonium over the nitrate form observed in the study soils during the growing season might indicate a periodical soil moisture increase limiting the mineralization process. The amount of precipitation and soil moisture had dominant impact on the N mineralization process, especially on the N-NO 3 concentrations.

Water or soil—What is the dominant driver controlling the vegetation pattern of degraded shallow mountain peatlands?

“… Note . Data in the table are after Glina, Bogacz, Pikus, & Pawluczuk, , and Glina, Bogacz, and Woźniczka ().…”

“…As very shallow watertable levels were observed in all study sites, this parameter was not considered further in this study.The study sites are covered with forest vegetation-Vaccinio-Piceetea and Calamagrostio villosae-Piceetum classes dominated by spruce and birch, with the exception of Site A, which has grassy vegetation: Molinio-Arrhenatheretea. According to the FAO-WRB classification (IUSS Working Group 2015), the studied soils were classified as follows: Murshic/Drainic Sapric Histosols on Sites A and B, Drainic Fibric/Hemic Histosols on Sites C and D, and Histic Gleysols on Site E(Glina, Bogacz, Pikus, & Pawluczuk, 2016;Glina, Bogacz, & Woźniczka, 2016).…”

“…in order to group and compare the vegetation of the studied peatlands. Vegetation was related to environmental TABLE 1 Geographical and ecological characteristic of the studied peatlands Data in the table are afterGlina, Bogacz, Pikus, &Pawluczuk, 2016, andWoźniczka (2016). This is the last sampling plot in the research transect.factors by canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) using a forward selection procedure and a Monte Carlo permutation test for assessment of the significance and relative importance of each environmental parameter in the vegetation pattern (CANOCO 5.0, ter Braak & Šmilauer, 2012).…”

Selected issues relating to classification of mountain organic soils in Poland according to the Polish Soil Classification (2011)

“…The small footprint of mires in upland areas is the result of specific geological and landform conditions (£ajczak 2013), which are usually not conducive to peat accumulation. Rudawy Janowickie (Bogacz et al 2016), Karkonosze Mts (Bogacz 2005), Izera Mountains , Sto³owe Mountains (Bogacz and Roszkowicz 2010, Glina et al 2017, Glina et al 2016a, 2016b, Bystrzyckie Mountains (Bogacz 2005), Bialskie Mountains (Bogacz et al 2008), Podhale andTatra Mountains (£ajczak 2001, 2013;Malawska et al 2006), western Bieszczady (Drewnik et al 2015;Stolarczyk and Drewnik 2015), Beskids (Margielewski 2006, Margielewski et al 2011 and Orava-Nowy Targ Basin (£ajczak 2006, 2013 constitute major mountain locations of peatlands. A clear dominance of raised bogs over fen peatlands is observed in Polish mountain ranges.…”

“…In the PSC (2011) organic soils have been divided into 6 main types and 24 subtypes, as follows: Fibric peat soils (in Polish: gleby torfowe fibrowe), Hemic peat soils (in Polish: gleby torfowe hemowe), Sapric peat soils (in Polish: gleby torfowe saprowe), Folisols (in Polish: gleby organiczne oeció³kowe), Limnic soils (in Polish: gleby organiczne limnowe) and Murshic soils (in Polish: gleby organiczne murszowe) (OEwitoniak et al 2016). Despite such a large number of organic soil subtypes, classification is still problematic, in mountain regions in particular (Glina et al 2016a(Glina et al , 2016b. As it was reported by Kaba³a (2014), knowledge about soil diversity is growing rapidly and with it rising expectations of the classification system, as well.…”