Research area 4: Mineralization

The thick layer of spruce needles may become a legacy limiting future establishment of a natural vegetation cover. The decomposition will be accelerated after felling by additional light and water, and a leaching to the stream might happen.

Our research focuses on following the mineralized carbon and nitrogen etc. Soil water samples are obtained from suctions cubs installed in transects along the stream, and continuous water samples are taken in the stream at the beginning of the project area, in the middle and at the end of it. These data are compared with water samples from a similar stream nearby, and further more we measure the ion availability in the precipitation.