Skip to main content
SLU:s publikationsdatabas (SLUpub)

Forskningsartikel2017Vetenskapligt granskadÖppen tillgång

Consequences of intensive forest harvesting on the recovery of Swedish lakes from acidification and on critical load exceedances

Moldan, Filip; Stadmark, Johanna; Folster, Jens; Jutterstrom, Sara; Futter, Martyn N.; Cosby, Bernard J.; Wright, Richard F.

Sammanfattning

Across much of the northern hemisphere, lakes are at risk of re-acidification due to incomplete recovery from historical acidification and pressures associated with more intensive forest biomass harvesting. Critical load ( CL) calculations aimed at estimating the amount of pollutants an ecosystem can receive without suffering adverse consequences are dependent on these factors. Here, we present a modelling study of the potential effects of intensified forest harvesting on re-acidification of a set of 3239 Swedish lakes based on scenarios with varying intensities of forest biomass harvest and acid deposition. There is some evidence that forestry would have caused a certain level of acidification even if deposition remained at 1860 levels. We show that all plausible harvest scenarios delay recovery due to increased rates of base cation removal. Scenario results were used to estimate critical loads for the entire population of lakes in Sweden. The forestry intensity included in critical load calculations is a political decision. After scaling calculations to the national level, it was apparent that a high but plausible forest harvest intensity would lead to an increase in the area of CL exceedances and that even after significant reductions in forest harvest intensity, there would still be areas with CL exceedances. Our results show that forest harvest intensity and regional environmental change must be carefully considered in future CL calculations. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nyckelord

Surface waters; Silviculture; MAGIC model; Leaching

Publicerad i

Science of the Total Environment
2017, Volym: 603, sidor: 562-569
Utgivare: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

      SLU författare

      • Globala målen

      SDG6 Säkerställa tillgången till och en hållbar förvaltning av vatten och sanitet för alla
      SDG15 Skydda, återställa och främja ett hållbart nyttjande av landbaserade ekosystem, hållbart bruka skogar, bekämpa ökenspridning, hejda och vrida tillbaka markförstöringen samt hejda förlusten av biologisk mångfald

      UKÄ forskningsämne

      Klimatforskning

      Publikationens identifierare

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.013

      Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

      https://res.slu.se/id/publ/83799