Reversibility of damages to forest floor plants by episodes of elevated hydrogen- and aluminium-ion concentrations in the soil solution

Herbs and grasses may episodically be exposed to elevated concentrations of potentially toxic elements as H⁺ and Al³⁺ due to considerable temporal variability in the chemical composition of soil solutions in the uppermost layer of the soil profile. Greenhouse experiments were performed to test the e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Plant and soil Vol. 176; no. 2; pp. 297 - 305
Main Author:	Quist, M.E. (Lund Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Ecology)
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Dordrecht Kluwer Academic Publishers 01-10-1995 Springer
Subjects:	Acid soils ALUMINIO ALUMINIUM Aluminum Animal and plant ecology Animal, plant and microbial ecology Autoecology Biological and medical sciences Deciduous forests FITOTOXICIDAD Forest soils Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology GALIUM ION IONES IONS LABIATAE PHYTOTOXICITE PHYTOTOXICITY Plant growth Plant roots Plants Plants and fungi POA Root growth SOIL SOLUTION SOLUCIONES DEL SUELO SOLUTION DU SOL Sweden Monocotyledones Forests Forest soil Time variation Ion composition Gramineae Dicotyledones Angiospermae Rubiaceae Proton pH Chemical properties Damage Soil solution Laboratory study Poa Soilless study Property of soil Acidity Silvicolous Aluminium III Ions Chemical modification Lamium Phytotoxicity Labiatae Concentration effect Reversibility Spermatophyta Soil plant relation
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Summary:	Herbs and grasses may episodically be exposed to elevated concentrations of potentially toxic elements as H⁺ and Al³⁺ due to considerable temporal variability in the chemical composition of soil solutions in the uppermost layer of the soil profile. Greenhouse experiments were performed to test the effect of episodes of different length (1 and 2 weeks) and concentrations of H⁺ and Al³⁻ (pH 3.8, 4.0, 4.2 and 4.5; 0, 20 and 70 µM Al) on root and shoot growth, designed to elucidiate the reversibility of growth inhibition. Three forest floor species were studied - Galium odoratum and Lamium galeobdolon, having similar pH distribution ranges in the field and Poa nemoralis which also occurs at slightly lower pH. The plants were grown for 5 weeks (episode and recovering time) in a synthetic soil solution in a flowing solution system without recirculation. The species reacted in three different ways. Galium odoratum was the most sensitive species and seemed to be irreversibly damaged (ceased growth) by 2 week episodes of pH ≤ 4.0 and Al ≥ 20 µM at pH ≤ 4.2. Lamium galeobdolon was about equally sensitive during the episodes but it had a much greater ability to recover. Poa nemoralis was rather insensitive to the episode treatments tested. It is concluded that episodes of elevated H⁺ and Al³⁺ concentrations may be decisive for plant performance. It is therefore important to consider the extreme environmental conditions which plants may be exposed to in the field, in addition to long-term averages of e.g. soil solution concentration of potentially toxic elements, when studying species distribution and performance in relation to soil chemical properties.
Bibliography:	P33 H50 9600092 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0032-079X 1573-5036
DOI:	10.1007/BF00011794