Scholarly record
SOIL TEMPERATURE IN NORWAY SPRUCE STAND: CASE STUDY IN LATVIA
Abstract
Windstorms are one of the main factors causing damages in forest in Northern Europe. The damages are especially severe, if the ground during the storm is not frozen and is wet, therefore the trees are less stable. Cyclonic windstorms primarily happens during the winter, and there is a prediction of notable rise of temperature in this period of the year ? thus we can expect more storm damages. It is known, that inside the forest stands specific microclimate exists, affecting also the soil temperature. However, there is lack on the specific of this impact at different depth of the soil in stand on organic soils. Therefore aim of the study was to assess the influence of presence of spruce stand on the peat soil temperature change in winter. Air (40 cm above ground) and soil (0 to 40 cm) temperature was monitored in open field (on peat soil) and middle age (40 years) and mature pure Norway spruce stands on deep peat soil in central part of Latvia. Observations were made in winter (December to February) and early spring (March) from December 2016 to March 2019 (three observation periods). Mean monthly air temperature in the observation period was from -6.1?C to +6.8?C. Air temperature during winter in mature stand was on average by 0 to 3.8?C lower than in open area on peat soil. In December and January there were minimal differences, but at the second part of winter the temperature differences reached on average 2.4?C. Similar trend had been observed, comparing the air temperature in open field and middle-age stand. In the soil temperature was notably higher, on average in December to February at the depth of 20 cm by +2.0?C (ranging from -0.1 to +4.6?C), in depth of 40 cm by 5.5?C (from 2 to 8.2?C). However, when the temperature raised in spring (in two out of the three observation years in March ? the mean temperature was +6.8?C and +6?C) the temperature in soil was notably lower than in air: in depth of 20 cm by 5.7?C and 4.6?C, in depth of 40 cm by 3.3 and 1.9 C. Temperature on ground during the winter was by 0.5 to 1?C on average higher close to the spruce tree (1 m) than further away from it (3 m) in middle age stand, but there was much less influence of the distance from the tree in mature stand. Deeper in soil (20 cm) closeness to the tree did not made much difference in temperature (-0.2 cm). The influence of presence of forest stand was various ? in milled age stand in 20 cm depth temperature during the winter was by was by 0.2?C higher in in another year by 1.2?C higher. Hoverer, overall, the temperature in peat soil was higher than in the air, and especially it was true in the Norway spruce stands. Thus, the effect predicted in the rise of air temperature will be even more pronounced for the soil temperature, thus influencing the probability of damages in forest stands.
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