Ionic balances of forest soils reciprocally transplanted among sites with varying pollution inputs.

Forest ecosystems are currently being exposed to changes in chemical inputs and it is suggested that physical climate is also changing. A novel approach has been used to study the effects of ionic inputs and climatic conditions on forest soils by reciprocally exchanging lysimeters containing undisturbed soil columns between four forest sites in Europe. The soil columns contained no living roots and simulated a clear cut situation. The soils chosen represented different stages of acidification and were taken from sites along a transect of increasing exposure to acidic and nitrogen pollution. The purpose of the study was to quantify the reactions of soils when transferred to different environments. Element balances were used as an aggregated indicator to describe the reaction of the soil. The input of protons in local throughfall increased along the transect from 0.01 kmol h