ZLV Online

Abstrakt

Soil water is one of the fundamental conditions for the development of the forest ecosystems. Habitat conditions and forest tree composition are the basic factors influencing development of soil moisture. Tree growth and forest structure changes progress fluctuations in the hydric regime. The article evaluates development of soil moisture in different growth conditions of Scots pine stands on nutrient-poor sandy soils and defines the basic principles of these relationships. In 2018, the moisture of A horizon was measured in transects across the stands and clear-cut areas. In the period from 2018 to 2020, the vertical moisture profile was evaluated by means of dug probes under a mature stand of pine, on clearcut area without soil preparation and in the space of the mounds and furrows on clear-cut area with soil prepared for natural regeneration by ploughing. The results showed that also in these conditions the moisture in the clear-cut area was all year round higher in comparison to the mature pine stand, however, topsoil moisture under the young pine growth with closed canopy was no longer different from the moisture of mature stand. Even in dry periods, the humidity on the clear-cut area decreased with the depth in the soil. Under the mature stand, this only happened when there was a sufficient amount of water in the ecosystem. The influence of the period within the growing season was not clearly reflected in the monitored long-term course of moisture in the soil horizons.