Regional differences in the occurrence of understorey species reflect nitrogen deposition in Swedish forests

Abstract

Possible links between the occurrence of Vaccinium myrtillus, V. vitis-idaea and Deschampsia flexuosa and rates of nitrogen deposition were investigated in 557 coniferous forest stands. In areas with high N-deposition, V. myrtillus was less frequent, less abundant and more susceptible to the leaf pathogen Valdensia heterodoxa than in areas with lower levels of N-deposition. The occurrence of V. vitis-idaea was also strongly negatively correlated with increasing N-deposition, but no such trend was found for D. flexuosa. In regions with high N-deposition, V. myrtillus was more common in stands dominated by Scots pine than in stands dominated by Norway spruce. This was not the case in regions with lower levels of N-deposition. The patterns observed accord with results from N-addition experiments that demonstrate significant effects on vegetation, caused by N-deposition. The data suggest that even low rates of N-deposition may decrease the abundance of the most dominant species in coniferous forest ground flora

Published in

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
2003, volume: 32, number: 2, pages: 91-97
Publisher: ROYAL SWEDISH ACAD SCIENCES

SLU Authors

• Näsholm, Torgny

  • Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences and Nature Conservation
Forest Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1639/0044-7447(2003)032[0091:RDITOO]2.0.CO;2

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/1004