Beskydy 2014, 7, 9-20
The biological activity of soil in Norway spruce forests and in fern Athyrium distentifolium Tausch ex Opiz stands on deforested polluted sites in the Beskydy Mts.
The study is focussed on the biological activity of acid forest soil with aim to characterize some of its parameters. Activity of acidic soil phosphatase, basal and potentional respiration were compared and viable plate counts of microorganism colonies were evaluated. The soils of the Kněhyně region in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids Mts. are intensively influenced by acid deposition. They were sampled from area where often occurrence of fern Athyrium distentifolium Tausch ex Opiz was recorded. Above mentioned characteristics (values of parameters) were determined in soil samples collected in fern stands (close to the periphery of fern individuals with rich root system), from site between individual ferns and from the rest of neighbouring spruce community without distinct herbage layer. In majority of studied cases, increased values of all monitored parameters were found in space of A. distentifolium roots accumulated close by fern base. Bare soil between individual fern plants often shows on a lower biological soil activity, however these differences were mostly not statistically significant. On the contrary, values of studied soil parameters recorded in the rest of neighbouring forest community without distinct herbage layer, reached mostly the lowest values and they often differ significantly from values assessed in soil taken near the A. distentifolium roots.
Keywords
Athyrium distentifolium Tausch ex Opiz, basal and potential respiration, phosphatase activity, forest soil, viable plate counts of cells.
