engleski

Assessment of atmospheric deposition, foliar nutrition, defoliation and growth in Mediterranean forest ecosystems of Croatia

Mediterranean forests provide a wide array of environmental services and products. Despite their important role as primary green infrastructure of the region, Mediterranean forests are subject to numerous threats such as forest fires, over-exploitation, deforestation and degradation. Among all bioclimatic regions, the Mediterranean region appears to be the most vulnerable to global change. The vulnerability of Mediterranean countries to climate change is related to the trend of increasing temperature, degradation of water resources and to the increased of water demand. These forests cover almost half of Croatian total forest area and are probably the most endangered forest ecosystems. Atmospheric deposition was measured together with other variables including those related to foliar nutrient, tree health, growth and crown condition at pubescent oak, holm oak, Aleppo pine and black pine plots, chosen to represent the most important and the most common species. The concentrations and the fluxes of main ions in bulk open field and throughfall samples, as well as the present deposition loads for nutrient N, were estimated. Results showed the highest ion concentrations measured for throughtfall deposition in holm oak forest. Throughfall N deposition results were higher than open field N deposition for oak plots. Thoughtfall N species were lower than open field fluxes in pine plots indicating possible retain from the canopy. Actual N deposition load was the lowest in Aleppo pine forest and the highest in holm oak forest. Foliar nutrient concentrations of nitrogen, calcium and magnesium were in an optimum supply range on all plots. There are no pronounced differences in mean defoliation between plots. Compared to the average estimated defoliation of the crown, it is apparent that the plots with a lower BAI% black pine and holm oak have lower defoliation.

Mediterranean forests ; Atmospheric deposition ; bulk open field ; throughfall

nije evidentirano