Altered Podzolization Resulting from Replacing Heather with Sitka Spruce

Abstract

Podzolization processes were studied under heather (Calluna vulgaris L. Hull) and Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum L.) and sitka spruce [Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr] planted on former heathland at Hjelm Hede, Jutland, Denmark. The aim was to compare changes in soil‐water chemistry with changes in the solid‐state chemistry after vegetation change. Fourteen profiles under heather and five profiles under spruce were examined and soil water was collected in lysimeter wells from the bottom of individual soil horizons A, E, Bh, and Bs from four representative profiles. The investigated area has been heathland for more than 2000 yr and part of it was planted with sitka spruce in 1933. The sitka spruce litter provided a more acidic soil environment, and the taller canopy increased the deposition of seasalts. The acidifying effects were increased by increased evapotranspiration from the plantation compared with the heathland. The investigation indicates disturbance of the podzolization process under spruce. Soil‐water chemistry showed a lack of Al immobilization in the B horizon under spruce, contrary to the heather system. Analyses of the spruce soil reveal a depletion of pyrophosphate (PYR) extractable Al and Fe. The charge balance in soil water showed a high deficit of anions under spruce compared with the dissolved organic C (DOC) concentration. Therefore, the deficit cannot be exclusively ascribed to negative charge on DOC. Sources of anion deficit might include (i) dissociated organic acids (R‐COO−), (ii) reduction in positive charge because of the existence of organo‐metal complexes [R‐(COO)2Al+], and (iii) reduction in positive charge because of an inorganic pH‐dependent species distribution of Al [Al(OH)2+, Al(OH)+2