Investigation of the decomposition and leaching dynamics of Salix, Populus and mixed leaves in the area of Lake Balaton and Kis-Balaton Wetland

Brigitta Simon,Angéla Anda,Tamás Kucserka

doi:10.34101/actaagrar/1/2382

Abstract

In lakes and wetlands, leaf litter input from the coastal vegetation represents a major nutrient load and plays a basic structural and functional role in several ecosystems. In Hungary, at the banks of lakes and wetlands, Salix and Populus trees are the most common species. In an experiment in Lake Balaton and Kis-Balaton Wetland between 16 November 2017 to and 3 June 2018, the decomposition rates and leaching dynamics of Salix, Populus and mixed leaves (50% Salix and 50% Populus) were investigated. Total nitrogen and phosphorus content of biomass samples were measured at the beginning and end of the experiment for the leaching dynamics experiment. We found that litter mass losses (Salix, Populus and mixed leaves) were not significantly different between the two mesh size litterbags and between Lake Balaton and Kis-Balaton Wetland. Different amounts of the total nitrogen and phosphorus leaching from Salix, Populus and mixed leaves were detected. The total nitrogen contents of the plant samples were around 8-18% at the end of the investigated period. Slightly higher values were measured compared to phosphorous (27-29%).

Highlights

On 23 October 2000, the "Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for the Community action in the field of water policy" or, in short, the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) was adopted (DIRECTIVE 2000/60/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL)
Investigation of the leaf litter decomposition The study was conducted in Lake Balaton and Kis-Balaton Wetland
Release of nutrients during decomposition of the leaf litter was investigated in situ in Lake Balaton and Kis-Balaton Wetland using 0.5 liter of volume glass bottles into which 0.45 liter of distilled water and 10 g of oven dried leaf litter material were placed (Gaudet and Muthuri, 1981)

Summary

Introduction

On 23 October 2000, the "Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for the Community action in the field of water policy" or, in short, the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) was adopted (DIRECTIVE 2000/60/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL). The aim of the directive is to reach a “good” overall quality of all waters. The directive, extending to 27 countries, initiated an important trend towards an ecosystembased approach for water policy and water resource management (Kallis and Butler, 2001). The decomposition dynamics of leaves depend on abiotic factors such as flow, temperature, physical abrasion (Petersen and Cummins, 1974), pH (Faye, 2006), nitrate and phosphate concentrations (Pozo, 1993), and biotic factors such as initial litter quality (Melillo et al, 1984), invertebrates and microbial colonization (Abelho, 2008). The decomposition process can be affected by changes in biodiversity at various levels including species richness of microbial communities (Duarte et al, 2006), detritivorous invertebrates (Schälder and Brandl, 2005), and plant litter itself (Kominoski et al, 2007)

Methods

Results

Conclusion