Impact of soil physico-chemical properties on forest productivity

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Calvaruso, Christophe, C. | Saint-André, Laurent | Didier, Serge | Redon, Paul-Olivier | Turpault, Marie-Pierre, M.-P.

Edité par CCSD -

International audience. The physicochemical properties of forest soils affect every aspect of soil fertility and productivity. Soil properties notably determine the availability of nutrients and water, and the ease of their absorption by trees, the ease of root penetration, and the degree to which solution moves both laterally and vertically through the soil. In consequence, soil properties can strongly influence tree nutrition and forest productivity. However, trees have at their disposal several mechanisms to improve nutrient availability in low-nutrient environments, i.e., modification of root architecture and exudation, association with microorganisms... This work aims at determining the impact of soil properties and root distribution on forest current productivity. In this view, the forest of Montiers (North East of France) was chosen to support the study because it presents a great diversity of soils representative of the French temperate forest on which rests a mature beech forest stand (50 year-old). In june 2009, 27 soil profiles were sampled in the rendisol, in the calci-brunisol and in the alocrisol for a total of 81 soil profiles. The physico-chemical properties and the root density were measured in these profiles. In addition, the trunk circumferences at breast level and the height were measured in 2009 and 2013 on about 2500 trees distributed on the three soils. By way of modeling, the biomass in the different tree compartments (0 to 4, 4 to 7 and > 7 cm diameter branches, trunk bark and wood) was determined for both dates. This work will present for the three soils (i) the soil physico-chemical properties, i.e., pH, base saturation, particle size distribution, soil water holding capacity and C, N and nutrient stocks, (ii) the evolution of the tree biomass, and (iii) the root density in the different soil horizons. The relations between soil fertility, forest productivity and soil root colonization are discussed.

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