ZLV Online

An accumulation of forest floor layer covering soil is likely to be the most important visible feature of forest soil distinguishing it from that one used for agricultural purposes. Tree species are considered an important factors influencing topsoil due to litterfall, i. e. conifers are usually reported as more-acidifying than broadleaves. There are, however, more factors to be found in soil forming process, and more favourable conditions beneath the broadleaves may not be only a result of “litter to humus” transformation. Therefore we have chosen two localities; the first one to compare beech with spruce and the second to compare birch with two stands of spruce. Beech forest floor beneath 12-year-old stand was higher in Ca (4,959 mg.kg-1) and Mg (691 mg.kg-1) concentrations compared to spruce (Ca 2,626 mg.kg-1; Mg 380 mg.kg-1). The differences in forest floor can be attributed to the same trends of those nutrients’ concentrations in mineral soil. Both forest-floor and topsoil beneath 12-year-old birch were significantly higher in all nutrients analyzed (P, K, Ca, Mg) compared to both spruce variants situated beneath 50-year-old and 100-year-old stands. The birch-variant concentrations were likely to reflect legacy of agricultural cultivation since the site was found to be a former arable land.