Seasonal variation of the ¹³7Cs level and its relationship with potassium and carbon levels in conifer needles.

Seasonal variations in foliar ¹³7Cs levels were examined in Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in western Finland. Our aim was to test the occurrence of seasonal variation in contents and concentrations of ¹³7Cs, potassium and carbon in needles. The study focused on analysing levels of total ¹³7Cs in the three youngest needle age classes and comparing them to the levels of potassium and carbon. Spruce and pine needles were collected from 50- and 65-year-old stands on 18 sampling occasions between April 1996 and February 1997. Phases of intensive growth, needle elongation and dormancy were apparent in the time series for the needle contents and activity concentration of ¹³7Cs, both of which varied according to needle age class and tree species. The sequence of phases with a temporal fluctuation of needle contents, activity concentrations of ¹³7Cs and concentrations of K and carbon varied occasionally, and the efficiency of their translocation revealed some differences in the dynamics of ¹³7Cs, K and carbon in spruce and pine. The data clearly showed that the needles' K contents responded strongly to changes in K demand from other parts of the tree due to seasonal changes and that these responses were stronger than the associated retranslocations of ¹³7Cs, particularly in Scots pine. During intensive growth, K was less mobile than ¹³7Cs in the needles. The uptake of ¹³7Cs by current-year needles is simultaneously affected by uptake from the soil via the roots and retranslocation from other internal sources, and both of these processes affect the observed transfer rates during the growth period. Our results provided information on the transfer rates and revealed differentiation of root uptake and retranslocation of ¹³7Cs in needles. The study can support dynamic modelling of atmospheric ¹³7Cs contamination in forests.

Promoting human health through forests: overview and major challenges.

This review aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion about human health, global change, and biodiversity by concentrating on the relationships between forests and human health. This review gives a short overview of the most important health benefits that forests provide to humans, and the risks that forests may pose to human health. Furthermore, it discusses the future challenges for the research on the links between forests and human health, and for delivering health through forests in practice. Forests provide enormous possibilities to improve human health conditions. The results of a vast amount of research show that forest visits promote both physical and mental health by reducing stress. Forests represent rich natural pharmacies by virtue of being enormous sources of plant and microbial material with known or potential medicinal or nutritional value. Forest food offers a safety net for the most vulnerable population groups in developing countries, and healthy forest ecosystems may also help in regulation of infectious diseases. Utilizing forests effectively in health promotion could reduce public health care budgets and create new sources of income. Main challenges to delivering health through forests are due to ecosystem and biodiversity degradation, deforestation, and climate change. In addition, major implementation of research results into practice is still lacking. Inadequate implementation is partly caused by insufficient evidence base and partly due to the lack of policy-makers' and practitioners' awareness of the potential of forests for improving human health. This calls for strong cooperation among researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners as well as between different sectors, especially between health and environmental professionals.

Effect of long-term forest fertilization on Scots pine xylem quality and wood borer performance.

We tested whether changes in long-term nutrient availability would affect the xylem quality and characteristics of Scots pine trees as a food source for the larvae of the xylophagous wood borer Hylotrupes bajulus L. (Cerambycidae). We looked for an effect of host plant growth and xylem structural traits on H. bajulus larval performance, and looked for delayed effects of long-term forest fertilization on xylem chemical quality. In general, larval performance was dependent on larval developmental stage. However, the growth of larvae also varied with host plant quality (increases in the concentration of nitrogen and carbon-based secondary compounds of xylem were correlated with a decrease in the larval growth rate). The greater annual growth of trees reduced tracheid length and correlated positively with second-instar H. bajulus growth rate. This is consistent with the hypothesis that intrinsic growth patterns of host plants influence the development of the xylophagous wood borer H. bajulus.

Are N and S deposition altering the mineral composition of Norway spruce and Scots pine needles in Finland?

Data from a large-scale foliar survey were used to calculate the extent to which N and S deposition determined the mineral composition of Scots pine and Norway spruce needles in Finland. Foliar data were available from 367 needle samples collected on 36 plots sampled almost annually between 1987 and 2000. A literature study of controlled experiments revealed that acidifying deposition mediates increasing N and S concentrations, and decreasing Mg:N and Ca:Al ratios in the needles. When this fingerprint for N and S elevated deposition on tree foliage was observed simultaneously with increased N and S inputs, it was considered sufficient evidence for assuming that acidifying deposition had altered the mineral composition of tree needles on that plot in the given year. Evidence for deposition-induced changes in the mineral composition of tree foliage was calculated on the basis of a simple frequency model. In the late eighties the evidence was found on 43% of the Norway spruce and 27% of Scots pine plots. The proportion of changed needle mineral composition decreased to below 8% for both species in the late nineties.

Evaluation of forest nutrition based on large-scale foliar surveys: are nutrition profiles the way of the future?

This paper introduces the use of nutrition profiles as a first step in the development of a concept that is suitable for evaluating forest nutrition on the basis of large-scale foliar surveys. Nutrition profiles of a tree or stand were defined as the nutrient status, which accounts for all element concentrations, contents and interactions between two or more elements. Therefore a nutrition profile overcomes the shortcomings associated with the commonly used concepts for evaluating forest nutrition. Nutrition profiles can be calculated by means of a neural network, i.e. a self-organizing map, and an agglomerative clustering algorithm with pruning. As an example, nutrition profiles were calculated to describe the temporal variation in the mineral composition of Scots pine and Norway spruce needles in Finland between 1987 and 2000. The temporal trends in the frequency distribution of the nutrition profiles of Scots pine indicated that, between 1987 and 2000, the N, S, P, K, Ca, Mg and Al decreased, whereas the needle mass (NM) increased or remained unchanged. As there were no temporal trends in the frequency distribution of the nutrition profiles of Norway spruce, the mineral composition of the needles of Norway spruce needles subsequently did not change. Interpretation of the (lack of) temporal trends was outside the scope of this example. However, nutrition profiles prove to be a new and better concept for the evaluation of the mineral composition of large-scale surveys only when a biological interpretation of the nutrition profiles can be provided.

Support, shape and number of replicate samples for tree foliage analysis.

Many fundamental features of a sampling program are determined by the heterogeneity of the object under study and the settings for the error (alpha), the power (beta), the effect size (ES), the number of replicate samples, and sample support, which is a feature that is often overlooked. The number of replicates, alpha, beta, ES, and sample support are interconnected. The effect of the sample support and its shape on the required number of replicate samples was investigated by means of a resampling method. The method was applied to a simulated distribution of Cd in the crown of a Salix fragilis L. tree. Increasing the dimensions of the sample support results in a decrease in the variance of the element concentration under study. Analysis of the variance is often the foundation of statistical tests, therefore, valid statistical testing requires the use of a fixed sample support during the experiment. This requirement might be difficult to meet in time-series analyses and long-term monitoring programs. Sample supports have their largest dimension in the direction with the largest heterogeneity, i.e. the direction representing the crown height, and this will give more accurate results than supports with other shapes. Taking the relationships between the sample support and the variance of the element concentrations in tree crowns into account provides guidelines for sampling efficiency in terms of precision and costs. In terms of time, the optimal support to test whether the average Cd concentration of the crown exceeds a threshold value is 0.405 m3 (alpha = 0.05, beta = 0.20, ES = 1.0 mg kg(-1) dry mass). The average weight of this support is 23 g dry mass, and 11 replicate samples need to be taken. It should be noted that in this case the optimal support applies to Cd under conditions similar to those of the simulation, but not necessarily all the examinations for this tree species, element, and hypothesis test.

Sampling procedure for the foliar analysis of deciduous trees.

Sampling can be the source of the greatest errors in the overall results of foliar analysis. This paper reviews the variability in heavy metal concentrations in tree crowns, which is a feature that should be known and understood when designing a suitable leaf sampling procedure. The leaf sampling procedures applied in 75 articles were examined. Most of the environmental studies used a closely related form of the UN/ECE-EC leaf sampling procedure, which was developed for the long-term monitoring of forest condition. Studies with objectives outside the UN/ECE-EC field of application should utilize a sampling procedure that is in accordance with the objectives of the study and based on the observed variation in pilot and similar studies. The inherent sources of heavy metal variability inside the stand, i.e. the crown class, stand management, site properties, crown dimensions, infections, seasons, etc. were discussed, but the underlying causes of this variability are rarely understood. The inherent variability in tree crowns is the reason for using leaf sampling as a tool in pollution studies. The objectives of a pollution study determine which sources of variability are utilized by the researcher.