Biomonitoring of Forest Springs in 'Frankenwald' and 'Fichtelgebirge'

LWF L53

Forest springs in north-eastern Bavaria

This project is funded for a 3-year period by the Bavarian State Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (board of trustees of the Bavarian State Institute of Forestry).

Intention

Vegetation of forest spring habitats is strongly influenced by hydrochemical conditions. Former investigations found springs to be a good indicator system to characterize forest ecosystems and their atmospheric deposition loads. In the current project we will use this knowledge of biomonitoring and bioindication in forested catchments to analyze temporal dynamics of water chemistry and associated vegetation.

In addition will study spatial patterns of changing stress situations. Species will be tested to identify indicator species, which react sensible to changes in water chemistry.

The experimental setup includes aspects of vegetation, soil and ground water as well as processes in forested catchments in a holistic ecosystem approach. Springs represent an integrating signal of the state of forest ecosystems.

The first sampling period of our long-term investigation was in 1989/1990, at the time of the German reunion. This is an important feature of our project, because in the following years the deposition of acidifying pollutants (especially sulfate) in the north-eastern Bavarian mountain ranges decreased significantly.

Aims

Our objectives are:

1. Monitoring and analysis of temporal dynamics of springwater acidification.
2. Spatial analysis on different scales (identification of polluted areas).
3. Bioindication of the hydrochemical status by means of vegetation data.
4. Testing of single species’ reactions (quality and speed) on temporal variability of environmental factors (synchronisation).
5. Development of an indication system to check the pollution stress of catchments (applicable in forestry).

all these goals are closely related to each other.

Hypotheses

• Observed trends of acidification (from 1989/1990 to 1996/1997) will continue.
• Changing climate conditions modify the seasonal variability of springwater ecosystems.
• Patterns of spatial variability on landscape level are of higher importance than the variability within a single catchment.
• Species composition of forest spring plant communities is modified by hydrochemical changes.
• Species characterized as bound to specific hydrochemical conditions in former investigations will react to changes in water chemistry.
• Catchments with differing forest management show different dynamics of their environmental chemistry.

Methods

In two forested mountain ranges in north-east Bavaria (‘Frankenwald’ and ‘Fichtelgebirge’) we investigate vegetation and hydrochemistry of forest spring habitats. The current project continues a monitoring program of forested catchments, which was initiated in the years 1989/1990 and carried on in 1996/1997. Including the field campaign in 2003/2004 we follow a regular rhythm in our experimental design.

Press

• Bayerisches Fernsehen
• 3Sat

List of publications of this Project

• Coworker: Carl Beierkuhnlein
• Coworker: Volker Audorff