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Black locust-Successful invader of a wide range of soil conditions
... Black locust has high importance in wood and honey production in Hungary; therefore, this adventive species is the most common tree in the country. As a successful invader and transformer species [7,8], the black locust has a strong transformer capacity, especially expressed by its nitrogen enrichment effect and allelopathic potential [9,10]. Through litter decomposition, releasing allelopathic substances may play a role in its invasive success [9]. ...
... Black locust has a complex effect on soil characteristics, such as increasing the soil's cation exchange capacity, aggregate stability, The principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) succeeded in separating three main groups, I-III ( Figure 1). Based on the dominant structure of the herb-layer, the black locust stands in group I form a relatively uniform group (Figure 2) characterized by a high cover of typical nitrophilous species (NB: 8,9). The most dominant species of this group were Bromus sterilis and Chelidonium majus, while further characteristic species were Anthriscus sylvestris and Urtica dioica. ...
... The cover-weighted NB spectrum was better in pointing out the differences among the three groups. In group I, the cover of extremely nitrophilous species (NB: 8,9) was much more significant than in groups II and III; however, the cover of mesotrophic plants was dominant. In group II, the plants of mesotrophic and moderately nutrient-rich habitats were the most significant. ...
The black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) is the second-most abundant deciduous tree in forest plantations, and one of the most important invasive woody species worldwide. The species has a strong transformer capacity, especially expressed by its nitrogen enrichment effect caused by nitrogen-fixing bacteria living in its root-nodules. The aim of this study was to explore the mutually interacting factors of nitrogen-fixing root-nodules, site characteristics, and herb-layer composition of 28 North Hungarian black locust stands. In the herb-layers of the study sites, a total of 121 plant species were identified, representing a relatively low species richness. The studied black locust stands showed high variability both in their herb-layer compositions and root-nodule formation, but no clear relationship could be demonstrated between these characteristics. The PCA component with which the species richness and Shannon-Wiener diversity index were strongly correlated was negatively associated with all root-nodule parameters (number, surface area, and weight), supporting the biodiversity-reducing effect of black locust by its nitrogen-fixing bacteria. All of the root-nodule parameters were negatively correlated with the PCA factor predominantly determined by stand age, confirming that the root-nodule biomass decreases as time progresses.
... Cependant, il évite les zones humides, hydromorphes, où le sol y est saturé d'eau stagnante sur le long terme, ainsi que les sols compacts argileux. Il affectionne également les sols aérés, bien drainés où la stagnation de l'eau est rare, plutôt gravier-sablonneux et secs (Huntley, 1990 ;Vítková et al., 2015 ;Vítková et Kolbek, 2010). Il apprécie les sols limoneux, sablonneux des grandes plaines des États-Unis (Geyer, 1993). ...
... Il apprécie les sols limoneux, sablonneux des grandes plaines des États-Unis (Geyer, 1993). En effet, ces conditions n'inhibent pas la capacité fixatrice d'azote du robinier (Vítková et al., 2015) et influencent considérablement sa croissance. Cette dernière est en effet plus lente lorsque le sous-sol est compact et gorgé d'eau, surtout lorsque la profondeur d'enracinement se situe à moins de 35 cm (Keresztesi, 1988). ...
... Cette dernière est en effet plus lente lorsque le sous-sol est compact et gorgé d'eau, surtout lorsque la profondeur d'enracinement se situe à moins de 35 cm (Keresztesi, 1988). En outre, le robinier est souvent associé à des sols sablo-limoneux (Kereszteri, 1980) et les plus grands arbres sont observés sur sol sableux (Vítková et al., 2015). Et pour cause, les racines ne pénètrent pas dans des couches de sols trop compacts, puisqu'elles ont tendance à croître horizontalement dans ces conditions (Bartha et al., 2008). ...
Synthèse bibliographique sur le Robinier faux-acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) et sur son impact sur la biodiversité forestière en Europe, réalisée dans le cadre d'un stage de six mois au sein de l'Office National des Forêts (ONF) en 2020.
... Robina pseudoacacia is able to grow in a variety of soil conditions [17] and it has the ability to vary its growth patterns, thrive in many regions, and grow at very aggressive rates [18], but in the dry condition, it is not easy to adapt [14,19] because the plant need soil water to improve photosynthetic capacity and biomass accumulation [20]. Moreover, Robinia pseudoacacia avoids compact soils and those that are waterlogged for long periods of time [17]. ...
... Robina pseudoacacia is able to grow in a variety of soil conditions [17] and it has the ability to vary its growth patterns, thrive in many regions, and grow at very aggressive rates [18], but in the dry condition, it is not easy to adapt [14,19] because the plant need soil water to improve photosynthetic capacity and biomass accumulation [20]. Moreover, Robinia pseudoacacia avoids compact soils and those that are waterlogged for long periods of time [17]. Thus, the plant seems to be limited by water supply. ...
... The main soil types in this area are calcaric fluvisols, salic fluvisols, and gleyic solonchaks, under which Robinia pseudoacacia is able to growth [17]. According to Ref. [23], three main factors were found to be the cause of dieback of Robinia pseudoacacia trees in this study area: soil texture, soil salt content, and ground water levels. ...
Soil quality has significant importance for the growth and sustainability of plants. However, due to the variability and diversity of soil characteristics, many trees suffered death according to their confrontation degree. Over the past several decades, Robinia pseudoacacia forests in the Yellow River delta of China, lose health and died without an obvious cause. This study focuses on evaluating the role of soil characteristics (moisture content, soil salinity content,
soil bulk density, soil texture (the percentages of soil sand, soil silt, and soil clay) and pH value on the deterioration
of health level of Robinia pseudoacacia forests in the area. To do so, three health levels such as healthy, medium
dieback, and severe dieback forest were firstly classified based on the United States Department of Agriculture
Forestry Bureau of crown condition classification guide and in situ surveys, then soil properties in vertical direction
were analyzed by five sampling points for each forest type from surface to the depth of 260 cm with eight layers
(0-20 cm, 20-40 cm, 40-60 cm, 60-100 cm, 100-140 cm, 140-180 cm, 180-220 cm and 220-260 cm) for healthy and
moderate dieback and 0- 220 cm depth with seven layers for severe dieback because the water occurred after 220
cm depth. The results indicated that there are significant differences in soil moisture content and soil conductivity
among three forest health conditions. For a vertical change of soil characteristics only soil particle sizes (sand,
silt, and clay) had a significant difference in the three forest health conditions. For system roots, absorptive roots were
observed down to 230 cm depth for healthy Robinia pseudoacacia forest but moderate and severe dieback Robinia
pseudoacacia forests, roots are found in the surface layer
... elevation) into account, because they were strongly correlated with climate. We also disregarded the type of soil, for which R. pseudoacacia has a wide tolerance range (Cierjacks et al., 2013;Huntley, 1990;Vítková et al., 2015), in addition to the decreasing importance of soil with the increasing spatial extent of grid squares analyzed (Pearson & Dawson, 2003). ...
... However, periodic removal of organic matter and low litter production by R. pseudoacacia connected with a high growth rate, causes relatively fast depletion of nutrients on nutrient-poor soils (according to Vasilopoulos et al., 2007, only two rotation cycles) and leads to loss of productivity and finally plantation abandonment. On the other hand, R. pseudoacacia enriches the soil with nitrogen by fixation of this chemical element from the atmosphere (Cierjacks et al., 2013;Danso et al., 1995;Ding et al., 2012;Vítková et al., 2015). Moreover, assisted migration can cause genetic maladaptation to future climates if long-term genecological studies are neglected (Frank et al., 2017). ...
... pseudoacacia in Europe is a typical ecosystem transformer, reducing the local biodiversity (e.g., Benesperi et al., 2012;Burda & Koniakin, 2019;Sitzia et al., 2016). Its impact on light and nutrient availability (i.e., Gorban et al., 2020;Piwczyński et al., 2016;Vítková et al., 2015) leads to vegetation shifts from specialists toward generalists, alien, and ruderal species (i.e., Puchałka et al., 2018;Slabejová et al., 2019;Vítková & Kolbek, 2010). The crucial element for future management measures should especially be reducing propagule pressure at the landscape scale in conservation areas and endangered habitats. ...
Robinia pseudoacacia is one of the most frequent non‐native species in Europe. It is a fast‐growing tree of high economic and cultural importance. On the other hand, it is an invasive species, causing changes in soil chemistry and light regime, and consequently altering the plant communities. Previously published models developed for the potential distribution of R. pseudoacacia concerned 2070, and were based mainly on data from Western and Central Europe; here we extended these findings and included additional data from eastern Europe. To fill the gap in current knowledge of R. pseudoacacia distribution and improve the reliability of forecasts, we aimed to (i) determine the extent to which the outcome of range modelling will be affected by complementing R. pseudoacacia occurrence data with sites from Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe, (ii) identify and quantify the changes in the availability of climate niches for 2050 and 2070, and discuss their impacts on forest management and nature conservation.
We showed that the majority of the range changes expected in 2070 will occur as early as 2050. In comparison to previous studies, we demonstrated a greater eastward shift of potential niches of this species and a greater decline of potential niches in Southern Europe. Consequently, future climatic conditions will likely favor the occurrence of R. pseudoacacia in Central and Northeastern Europe where this species is still absent or relatively rare. There, controlling the spread of R. pseudoacacia will require monitoring sources of invasion in the landscape and reducing the occurrence of this species. The expected effects of climate change will likely be observed twenty years earlier than previously forecasted. Hence, we highlighted the urgent need for acceleration of policies aimed at climate change mitigation in Europe. Also, our results showed the need for using more complete distribution data to analyze potential niche models.
... The litter, or dead plant waste material accumulation on the upper surface of forests, is a common natural phenomenon and its mineralization by indigenous microbe play an important role in biogeochemical cycling and biodiversity (Manna et al., 2003;Vítková et al., 2015). However, over the last two decades, tropical forests have undergone fast deforestation for agricultural and economical purposes. ...
... Black locust (BL) was introduced to China at the beginning of the twentieth century and has been widely planted as a pioneer species on the Loess Plateau (Tateno et al., 2007). In recent decades, however, increasingly research shown that the species also causes severe environmental problems, including the overconsumption of underground water, quick turnover of composition and allelopathic potential of black locust (Vítková et al., 2015). The rapid spread and growth of its propagules allow its successful establishment over a wide range of environmental conditions (Vítková et al., 2015). ...
... In recent decades, however, increasingly research shown that the species also causes severe environmental problems, including the overconsumption of underground water, quick turnover of composition and allelopathic potential of black locust (Vítková et al., 2015). The rapid spread and growth of its propagules allow its successful establishment over a wide range of environmental conditions (Vítková et al., 2015). For these reasons, it was listed as one of the most dangerous invasive species in Europe (Richardson et al., 2011;Benesperi et al., 2012). ...
In this study, the fungal dynamics associated with black locust (BL) mineralization and its correlation with various environmental factors were evaluated across three different vegetation types along a gradient of temperature and humidity. The results confirmed that Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the dominant phyla in each habitat, with average relative abundance of 86.57 and 11.42%, respectively. But both phylum abundance varied significantly among different BL leaves’ decomposing habitats. Black locust changed the most significantly in the forest habitat and the least in the steppe. In addition, the litter characteristics of BL decreased with total carbon and total nitrogen mineralization and underground water level in water-rich region, while this result was significantly consistent with the fungal diversity. Co-occurrence network studies revealed that significant correlations were found between fungal community composition and environmental factors, the decrease of underground water level influence the fungal structure in forest habitat. Finally, the present study results provide important insights about the biological invasion of new ecosystems.
... A negative effect of R. pseudoacacia on the biological processes and species composition of native biocenoses was repeatedly confirmed in many studies (Peloquin & Hiebert, 1999;Lapin et al., 2002;Von Holle et al., 2006;Taniguchi et al., 2007;Benesperi et al., 2012;Buchholz et al., 2015;Š enkýř, 2015;Vítková et al., 2015;Sitzia et al., 2016;Lazzaro et al., 2018;Slabejová et al., 2019;Š ibíková et al., 2019). In contrast, some studies did not observe these negative influences (Sitzia et al., 2012;Deneau, 2013). ...
... On the other hand, in hardwood floodplain forests, a slightly higher amount of ammonium was recorded. The most significant difference is nitrogen fixation in the soil, which increases with increasing age of the Robinia stands (Vítková et al., 2015). Higher level of soil nitrogen is not only a result of decaying N-rich Robinia's leaves and roots but also from root exudates, which contain 1-2 % of recently fixed N (Tateno et al., 2007). ...
There is much knowledge about the impact of non-native Robinia pseudoacacia on native ecosystems, but mostly it is related to one group of organisms. In this article, we provide an analysis of the impact of R. pseudoacacia on the surrounding biota with a broader scope in a model area with homogeneous abiotic conditions compared and analysed by the twin plots method. Microclimatic conditions and the changes in the species composition of vegetation, terrestrial gastropods, carabid beetles, bats, and acoustic diversity were analysed. The planted Robinia stands were always brighter and warmer and had lower canopy closure than the control plots in the native floodplain forest. More nitrogen and phosphorus were recorded in the soil of the Robinia stands. The floristic composition changed the most based on the planting of Robinia trees. Compared to those in the adjacent floodplain forest, more heliophilous neophytes, archaeophytes and grasses were found. Assemblages of gastro-pods and carabid beetles were less affected by the planting of Robinia trees and more by the microclimatic conditions of the studied locality. The number of recorded bats and acoustic diversity were higher in native floodplain forests due to food and shelter options. All results show that the planting of Robinia trees changes the microclimatic conditions and species composition of forest stands. The warmer and less humid environment under Robinia stands is not desirable in the face of ongoing climate change. The alien (including invasive) and ruderal plant species in the understorey are supported due to the more favourable brighter conditions and nitrogen fixation in the soil. Additionally, the other groups of organisms react negatively to changes under Robinia trees in terms of microclimatic conditions, food and shelter sources. Therefore, forest managers, policy-makers and conservation workers should choose stratified management when deciding whether and where to plant R. pseudoacacia.
... Compared to other plants in urban green spaces (such as Trifolium repens, Cinnamomum camphora, and Ligustrum lucidum), R. pseudoacacia is favored by Chinese urbanites because of their rich flowers, attractive fragrances, deciduous broad leaves, and high trunks 18 . Additionally, its high tolerance to a wide range of soil conditions 19 , and high adaptability to harsh environments and low fertility enable it to thrive in urban areas across vast climatic regions while providing essential ecosystem services 11,12,[20][21][22] . For example, in the ecologically fragile Loess Plateau, human-planted R. pseudoacacia covers >70,000 ha 23,24 , and has been shown to notably alter vegetation structures, soil properties, and microbial biomass and activities 19,25 . ...
... Additionally, its high tolerance to a wide range of soil conditions 19 , and high adaptability to harsh environments and low fertility enable it to thrive in urban areas across vast climatic regions while providing essential ecosystem services 11,12,[20][21][22] . For example, in the ecologically fragile Loess Plateau, human-planted R. pseudoacacia covers >70,000 ha 23,24 , and has been shown to notably alter vegetation structures, soil properties, and microbial biomass and activities 19,25 . In Shenyang, one of the largest cities in northeastern China, R. pseudoacacia has also played an important role in improving air quality by absorbing ambient fine particulate matter with a diameter of ≤2.5 µm (PM2.5), which acts as a primary air pollutant that causes human disease 12 . ...
Urban greening provides important ecosystem services and ideal places for urban recreation and is a serious consideration for municipal decision-makers. Among the tree species cultivated in urban green spaces, Robinia pseudoacacia stands out due to its attractive flowers, fragrances, high trunks, wide adaptability, and essential ecosystem services. However, the genomic basis and consequences of its wide-planting in urban green spaces remains unknown. Here, we report the chromosome-level genome assembly of R. pseudoacacia, revealing a genome size of 682.4 Mb and 33,187 protein-coding genes. More than 99.3% of the assembly is anchored to 11 chromosomes with an N50 of 59.9 Mb. Comparative genomic analyses among 17 species reveal that gene families related to traits favoured by urbanites, such as wood formation, biosynthesis, and drought tolerance, are notably expanded in R. pseudoacacia. Our population genomic analyses further recover 11 genes that are under recent selection. Ultimately, these genes play important roles in the biological processes related to flower development, water retention, and immunization. Altogether, our results reveal the evolutionary forces that shape R. pseudoacacia cultivated for urban greening. These findings also present a valuable foundation for the future development of agronomic traits and molecular breeding strategies for R. pseudoacacia.
... Analysis of such a number of various factors brings an interpretation problem, as many of them are not acting in the same directions (e.g. high C/N vs low pH, base saturation or decomposition rate; Manzoni et al., 2010;Vítková et al., 2015) or their effects are not happening in sequence (Zhang et al., 2009;Stefanowicz et al., 2017). On the other hand, in a study covering such a wide range of parameters, it is challenging to select and interpret the most important ones. ...
... Most published studies report increased soil nutrient stock and its availability under invasive plant species compared to uninvaded ecosystems (Myrold and Huss-Danell, 2003;Dassonville et al., 2007;Liao et al., 2008;Castro-Díez et al., 2014), but other studies show the opposite pattern (Christian and Wilson, 1999;Ehrenfeld, 2003;Lavoie, 2017). Moreover, the same species may have different impacts depending on seasonal variability (Tharayil et al., 2013) or local conditions, suggesting that the resident community and environmental factors can determine the direction and magnitude of plant invasions (Meyerson et al., 2000;Belnap and Phillips, 2001;Ehrenfeld, 2003;Vítková et al., 2015;Power and Vilas, 2020). This complexity shows that the alteration of one process does not necessarily result in changes in related processes; similarly, differences in one component of a cycle do not necessarily imply differences in linked factors (Ehrenfeld, 2003). ...
... fruticose), and Hippophae rhamnoides (H. rhamnoides) (Wang et al. 2020;Vitková et al. 2015). Wang et al. (2020) found that direct restoration with H. rhamnoides and J. sabina had the advantages of low costs, easy operation, and less secondary damage. ...
... Nan et al. (2020) suggested that J. sabina plantations have lower water consumption and lower mortality, so cultivating plantations of this species can improve the vegetation coverage in semi-arid northern China and play the role of windbreak and sand fixation. Vitková et al. (2015) found that R. pseudoacacia, a pioneer N-fixing tree, has been widely planted in industrial wastelands due to its tolerance to a wide range of soil conditions. Shi et al. (2016) found that R. pseudoacacia and H. rhamnoides have considerable biomass, which can be used as pollution-resistant tree species for vegetation restoration. ...
Iron tailings matrix is deficient in nutrients, and phytoremediation is one of the effective methods to improve tailings nutrients. The response of phytoremediation to tailings microorganisms remains to be studied. The present study analyzed rhizospheric soil of two kinds of plants bacterial diversity and community structure and their relationship with soil environmental factors. The results indicate that the rhizospheric soil bacteria species of Robinia pseudoacacia and Juniperus sabina were not significantly different from that of bare tailings, but rhizospheric soil bacterial community compositions and abundance were significantly different from that of bare tailings. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) showed that soil alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen (AN), soil total nitrogen (TN), and soil organic matter (SOM) were the main environmental factors affecting bacterial community diversity. Spearman’s correlation analysis showed that AN, TN, and SOM were significantly positively correlated with the relative abundance of Gemmatimonadetes and Nitrospirae, and were significantly negatively correlated with that of Firmicutes, Fusobacteria, and Bacteroidetes. FAPROTAX function prediction showed that the functional microbial communities of rhizospheric soil of the two plants were significantly different from those of bare tailings. Overall, the findings support an increase of microbial diversity, SOM, and nitrogen in rhizospheric soil of revegetated tailings compared to bare tailings. These results provide theoretical support for the development and application of phytoremediation in abandoned mines.
... Snese aktivní půdní reakci (pH/H 2 O) v rozpětí 3,2 až 8,8, rozpětí nasycení sorpčního komplexu bázemi od 30 % do 100 %. Vyžaduje ale dostatečně provzdušněné půdy a nesnáší těžké zhutnělé substráty a trvalejší zamokření půdního profilu (Vítková et al. 2015). ...
... V Rusku měl být pozorován brzdicí účinek akátu na růst jilmu (Ulmus sp.) a výtažky z kořenů akátu měly snižovat intenzitu fotosyntézy u dubu letního (Quercus robur L.). Na druhou stranu, za procesem modifikace fytocenóz akátem se v našich podmínkách spíše než alelopatické působení akátu pravděpodobně skrývá především nepřirozené obohacení stanoviště o dusík (nitrifikace), okyselení svrchních vrstev půdy a zvýšené vyplavování půdních bází(Berthold et al. 2009;Vítková 2014;Vítková et al. 2015). V úvahu připadá také zvýšené odčerpávání živin vlastními akáty, které jsou náročné na fosfor, vápník a draslík), specifické klima, stín(Vasilopoulos et al. 2007;Vítková 2014) a v neposlední řadě tendence k vysýchání svrchních vrstev půd v akátových porostech, která je pravděpodobně důsledkem velmi intenzivní evapotranspirace, již akáty vykazují(Bartha et al. 2008).Sádlo et al. (2017) uvádějí, že v podrostu akátu může být sice přítomno relativně dost druhů (cca 20 až 45 na 200 m 2 , což je podobné jako u klimaxových lesů), ale z hlediska zastoupení dominují nitrofilní druhy jako sveřep jalový (Bromus sterilis L.), svízel přítula (Galium aparine L.), kopřiva dvoudomá (Urtica dioica L.), břečťan popínavý (Hedera helix L.) a bez černý (Sambucus nigra L.). ...
ZLV, 64, 2019 (4): 181-190 181 p r o o f c o p y Stručný popis dřeviny Trnovník akát (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) je listnatý strom pocházející ze Severní Ameriky. Se svou výškou (20-30 m) a výčetní tloušťkou (běžně 30-76 cm) patří mezi středně velké stromy. Má otevřenou, spí-še řídkou korunu, která největší šířky zpravidla dosahuje pod svým vrcholem. Kmen je v podmínkách České republiky často křivý. Především u solitérně rostoucích stromů se brzy rozděluje do několika sil-ných větví (obr. 1). V teplejších oblastech a na příznivých stanovištích však akátové porosty mohou vytvářet relativně dlouhé přímé kmeny. Kůra mladých stromů je hnědavá až tmavě šedohnědá. Velmi brzy se mění v tlustou, silně rozpukanou borku se síťnatě rozvětvenými, mírně vlnkovitě stočenými brázdami (obr. 2). Pupeny má akát skryté mezi párem jednoduchých špičatých trnů, které jsou vlastně promě-něnými palisty. Listy jsou střídavé, cca 15 až 20 cm dlouhé, licho-zpeřené. Na vřeteni je obvykle 11 až 15 krátce stopkatých eliptic-kých celokrajných lístků, které jsou cca 3 cm dlouhé (Huntley 1990; ABSTRACT The literature review summarises the available knowledge on black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) with the focus on Central Europe. General characteristics of the species are described. The origin and introduction pathways of black locust to Europe and across the continent are discussed. The area currently covered by the species in selected European countries is summarised. The paper also evaluates the growth habits of the species and its regeneration and dispersal strategy. Attention is paid to the invasiveness of black locust. The authors discuss detrimental effects of black locust on some plant communities and habitats and mention biotopes most vulnerable to black locust expansion. The review refers to silvicultural techniques that could unintentionally promote the undesirable spread of the species. On the other hand, the paper summarises the challenging positive features of black locust, appreciates its qualities and presents examples of successful utilization. For more information see Summary at the end of the article.
... In Europe, the species has been introduced over a wide range of soils and tolerates diverse pH from extremely acid (3.2) to alkaline (8.8) (Vítková et al. 2015). However, it grows best when the soil pH is slightly acid to near neutral, 5.5-7.0 (Roșu 1996;Borde 2011;Zajączkowski and Wojda 2012). ...
... Under these conditions, the root-associated nitrogen fixing Rhizobium bacteria, which fixes up to 75 kg of N ha −1 year −1 (Boring and Swank 1984) or 150 kg of N ha −1 year −1 (Berthold et al. 2005), are able to thrive. The groundwater table should be deeper than 150 cm (Keresztesi 1988a, b;Zajączkowski and Wojda 2012), as nitrogen fixation aerobic Rhizobium bacteria is inhibited by high water table or periods of flooding (Vítková et al. 2015). Rendzinas, calcium-carbonated soils in the upper horizons, poorlydrained and highly compacted (clayey) soils, very dry as well as hydromorphic soils with gley or pseudogley, are not suitable for black locust (Stoyanov 1926;Donchev 1968;Rameau et al. 1989;Claessens et al. 2006;Borde 2011;Boer 2013). ...
Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.), a species native to the eastern North America, was introduced to Europe probably in 1601 and currently extends over 2.3 × 106 ha. It has become naturalized in all sub-Mediterranean and temperate regions rivaling Populus spp. as the second most planted broadleaved tree species worldwide after Eucalyptus spp. This wide-spreading planting is because black locust is an important multipurpose species, producing wood, fodder, and a source of honey as well as bio-oil and biomass. It is also important for carbon sequestration, soil stabilization and re-vegetation of landfills, mining areas and wastelands, in biotherapy and landscaping. In Europe, black locust is drought tolerant so grows in areas with annual precipitation as low as 500–550 mm. It tolerates dry, nutrient poor soils but grows best on deep, nutrient-rich, well-drained soils. It is a fast-growing tree and the height, diameter and volume growth peak before the age of 20. It mostly regenerates vegetatively by root suckers under a simple coppice system, which is considered the most cost-effective management system. It also regenerates, but less frequently, by stool sprouts. Its early silviculture in production forests includes release cutting to promote root suckers rather than stool shoots, and cleaning-respacing to remove low-quality stems, reduce the number of shoots per stool, and adjust spacing between root suckers. In addition, early, moderate and frequent thinning as well as limited pruning are carried out focusing on crop trees. The species is regarded as invasive in several European countries and its range here is expected to expand under predicted climate changes.
... It was widely planted in gardens and parks, later also in forests, groves and windbreaks. It is a very resistant and strongly competitive tree species (Kuneš et al. 2019a) often tending to invasive behaviour (Vítková et al. 2015). Given the invasiveness of black locust (Vilà et al. 2009) and the ability to convert its habitat (Bartha et al. 2008), extreme caution regarding its use in the open landscape is certainly important (Kuneš et al. 2019b). ...
Only 1.82% of the Czech forests are covered by the introduced (exotic, non-native) tree species, they represent only a very minor part of the forest area in the Czech Republic. Despite this fact under certain circumstances and locally, they can play an important role in the forest restoration of declined forests. The main non-native tree species used in the Czech Republic are: black locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia L.), Douglas-fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirbel] Franco), grand fir ( Abies grandis [Douglas ex D. Don] Lindl.), black walnut ( Juglans nigra L.), northern red oak ( Quercus rubra L.), and blue spruce ( Picea pungens Engelm.). Other tree species are cultivated on very small areas, despite their much larger potential. The aim of the presented review paper is to summarize information on the introduced tree species, available especially from national sources, and give comprehensive information concerning the potential and risk of their use in the conditions of the Czech Republic. The authors mention also other tree species eligible for silviculture under current as well as future climatic circumstances. The current area and silvicultural potential in the climate changing conditions are analysed and summarized.
... The remaining representatives of the generic complex are used much less frequently, although an analysis of their bioecological and decorative features indicates that they are not only not inferior, but in fact superior to R. pseudoacacia in many respects. The selection and adaptation of representatives of the ancestral complex will provide new opportunities to increase the biodiversity, as well as the productivity, durability and the environmental role of protective strips and decorative landscaping tree plantations [6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. ...
Purpose of the study: to substantiate the prospects of using various species, varieties and forms of the genus Robinia in protective afforestation and landscaping of settlements in dry-steppe and semi-desert zones of southern Russia. It is established that the main limiting factors affecting the growth, development and condition of representatives of the genus Robinia in the Volgograd region are winter temperatures up to −37 °C, as well as poor moisture availability and uneven distribution of precipitation during the growing season in combination with extremely low temperatures in the autumn–winter period. All representatives of the generic complex belong to the group of plants that start late and finish the vegetative period late. Phenological atypicity is in the lower half of the normal range, with indicators from +1 °C to 0, which indicates a high level of adaptation to the climatic conditions of the region. In the process of long-term acclimatization, many introduced species have developed a number of genotypic adaptations and are currently able to tolerate extreme winter temperatures up to −37 °C. An assessment of potential drought resistance based on the water-retaining ability of the leaves showed that higher rates of water-resistance capacity (76.8% water loss) are typical of R. neomexicana, which has a natural distribution area in the western arid part of the North American continent. R. viscosa var. hartwegii, with a natural distribution in the areas of the monsoon subtropical climate of eastern North America, is distinguished by low indicators (94.1% water loss), as are clonal decorative forms of R. pseudoacacia: f. pyramidalis and f. umbraculifera (97.6–95.8% water loss), which are common only in culture and characterized by a whole complex of low indicators of bioecological stability. The data obtained by us allow us to recommend the following assortment of species and forms of Robinia for protective afforestation and landscaping in the arid territories of southern Russia: R. pseudoacacia, R. neomexicana var. neomexicana, R. neomexicana var. rusbyi and R. pseudoacacia x R. neomexicana.
... In Mediterranean areas, Lazzaro et al. (2018) showed that soil pH is significantly lower in black locust stands than in native oaks stands, whereas no differences were found for the organic and inorganic content of carbon (C) and N. Under favourable humidity conditions, increases in soil N mineralization and nitrification occur at R stands that induce litter pH acidification with leaching of the Ca, K, Mg, Na and P ions from top soil (Vítková et al., 2015;Papaioannou et al., 2016). In addition, De Marco et al. (2013a) and Jin et al. (2016) highlighted as black locust afforestation induced the increase in C and N stocks in the upper organic layer of both pastures and forests, but no increase in N stocks of mineral soil. ...
The combined action of alien plants invasion and fire occurrence can strongly alter local biodiversity and soil functions especially in the Mediterranean area. In this context, the goal of the study was to assess the effects of the invasive black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) spread on soil characteristics, especially soil microbial community responses, in some Mediterranean shrublands and pine forests subjected to both a slow natural invasion and a fast fire-induced invasion.
The soil sampled in all stands, regardless type of black locust invasion, showed increasing values of pH, water holding capacity and bulk density as compared to soil of pure shrublands and pine forests. Soil organic matter content approximately doubled in stands invaded by black locust trees (from 4.3 and 9.0 % in shrublands and from 5.3 and 14.5 % in pine forests after fire respectively). A similar trend was observed for the soil nitrogen content with values of 2.9 and 8.2 mg g⁻¹ in pure and invaded shrublands after fire respectively and values of 3.8 and 5.4 mg g⁻¹ in pure and invaded pine after fire. Moreover, the combined effect of black locust invasion and fire occurrence improved soil content and availability of the investigated elements (Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na). In addition, the invasion seemed to stimulate microbial growth, by promoting especially the bacterial component regardless of the plant cover and fire occurrence. A significant decrease of microbial respiration was observed only in invaded pine forests (0.18 mg CO2 g⁻¹ d⁻¹) as compared to pure forests (0.32 mg CO2 g⁻¹ d⁻¹). On the other hand, in all invaded shrublands a reduced efficiency of carbon resource utilisation and a high stress condition of the microbial community were evident. However, the combined impact of black locust invasion and fire occurrence does not show specific changes in the investigated stands. Fire confirms and, sometimes, promotes the changes due to the spread of black locust in both shrublands and pine forests soils.
... In line with these results, Trifilò et al. (2004) Manzoni et al., 2015). Furthermore, the NNT species studied, and especially R. pseudoacacia, have also been shown to have high leaf plasticity (Ranney et al., 1990) (Vítková et al., 2015) or displaying decreases in photosynthetic rates and increased water-use efficiency because of stomatal limitation (Wang et al., 2007). ...
One of the suggested mechanisms behind the success of non‐native plants in recipient ecosystems is competition avoidance with natives by means of different resource‐use strategies, such as deeper water uptake under dry conditions.
We aimed at evaluating water source partitioning between native and non‐native tree species coexisting in central Spain floodplains; determining the dependency on drought stress of such water sources use; and assessing if the reliance on deeper water sources relates with physiological and growth performance.
We assessed water uptake depth, leaf functional traits related to physiological performance and growth of native ( Populus alba ) and non‐native trees ( Ailanthus altissima , Robinia pseudoacacia ) coexisting in riparian forests under different drought conditions (drier, intermediate and wetter). We analysed δ ² H and δ ¹⁸ O isotopes in xylem water and in soil water from top, mid and deep soil depths and determined the contribution of each water source to overall plant xylem water. Leaf traits related with resource use and secondary growth were assessed for each species.
We found stronger differences between sites than between species, with all species taking more deep water in the driest site (~45% of the xylem water) than in the wettest (~15%). However, under drier conditions, species differences were significant for top‐soil water use, with R. pseudocacia withdrawing more superficial water (~22%) than A. altissima (~8%). These results indicate stronger water partitioning under drier conditions. Non‐native species showed a physiological strategy characterized by greater leaf N, water content, and enriched δ ¹³ C and δ ¹⁵ N values independently of the deep‐water uptake. However, a positive relationship between deep soil water use and such strategy was found for P. alba.
We highlight that those native and non‐native species differences were more evident regarding physiological performance at leaf level than for deep‐water uptake or growth. Furthermore, our results suggest that differences in water sources used by coexisting species may increase under drier conditions.
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... It is also to be considered as a significant tree species in mitigating the negative effects of global and local climate change on the environment including forest management (Rédei et al. 2013;Mantovani et al. 2014;Moser et al. 2016Moser et al. , 2018Keserü et al. 2021;Ábri et al. 2022). The ecological risks of black locust are well-known, and many studies have been published on this subject (Vítková, Kolbek 2010, Vítková et al. 2015Sádlo et al. 2017). However, if the relevant cultivation technology is followed, the invasive characteristics of Robinia pseudoacacia can be significantly reduced (Rédei 1984;Rédei et al. 2017;Nicolescu et al. 2020). ...
Black locust is one of the most commonly planted exotic tree species in the world. It has a crucial role in mitigating the negative effects of climate change. Its increment analyses have a key role in forest planning. Increment is added to the wood stock of the forest over and over again, and only this continuous replenishment makes the sustainable forest management possible. This study presents the results of the analysis of periodic annual increment (PAI) by diameter (dbh) and volume (v) of two differently aged black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) stands, growing under similar ecological conditions. The main correlations are as follows: PAI<sub>dbh</sub> and diameter at breast height: r = 0.601 and 0.704 (P = 0.01); PAI<sub>v</sub> and mean tree volume (v): r = 0.721 and 0.849 (P = 0.01). The presented correlations clearly demonstrate the importance of individual differentiation within a stand.
... The main goal of this study is to further elucidate, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the mechanism of intrusive growth of cambial initial cells on the example of Robinia pseudoacacia L.-a tree species of growing economic potential in Europe 31 . It is also one of the most highly invasive alien species threatening biodiversity, which, given the anticipated climate changes, may become an increasing ecological and economic problem [32][33][34][35] . During the study it was investigated: (1) whether intrusive growth of initial cells contributes to the tangential enlargement of rearranging fragments of the vascular cambium, and therefore participates in circumferential enlargement of this secondary meristematic tissue, and (2) whether intrusive growth of initial cells in R. pseudoacacia vascular cambium occurs between tangential walls of neighbouring cells. ...
This study aimed to test the hypothesis whether intrusive growth of initial cells is related to the increase in circumference of Robinia pseudoacacia vascular cambium—both qualitatively and quantitatively. The mode of intrusive growth of cambial initial cells was also studied. Samples collected from tree trunks were examined using series of semi-thin transverse sections. Anatomical reconstructions of radial and tangential planes of analysed fragments of cambial tissue were made. Observations and measurements have shown that the intrusive growth of R. pseudoacacia initial cells does not contribute to an increase in tangential dimension of observed tissue fragments where cell rearrangement occurs. Moreover, initially separated tangential walls of cells (between which cambial initial cell elongates intrusively) are transformed into obliquely oriented walls. These results stand in accordance with a statement that only symplastic growth of initials, not intrusive growth, is responsible for the increase in circumference in all woody plants with the continuous cambial cylinder. Moreover, we managed to capture the moment of transition of initial status from one cell to another for the first time. This phenomenon may be explained on the basis of the system of mechanical stresses operating not only in the secondary meristematic tissue but also in a whole plant organism.
... Black locust is often found on well aerated, relatively dry and stony soil, but is not suited for areas with compact or shallow soil and stagnant water. It can tolerate a broad range of soil reactions [94]. As a benefit to soil, black locust is a nitrogen-fixing species and can grow on nitrogen-poor soils [71,95]. ...
Agricultural land abandonment due to biophysical and socioeconomic constraints is increasing across Europe. Meanwhile there is also an increase in bioenergy demand. This study assessed woody crop performance on several relevant types of marginal agricultural land in Europe, based on field experiments in Latvia, Spain and Ukraine. In Latvia, hybrid aspen was more productive than birch and alder species, and after eight years produced 4.8 Mg ha−1 y−1 on stony soil with sandy loam texture, when best clone and treatment combination was selected. In Spain, Siberian elm produced up to 7.1 Mg ha−1 y−1 on stony, sandy soil with low organic carbon content after three triennial rotations. In Ukraine, willow plantations produced a maximum of 10.8 Mg ha−1 y−1 on a soil with low soil organic carbon after second triennial rotation. The productivity was higher when management practices were optimized specifically to address the limiting factors of a site. Longer rotations and lower biomass yields compared to high-value land can be expected when woody crops are grown on similar marginal agricultural land shown in this study. Future studies should start here and investigate to what extent woody crops can contribute to rural development under these conditions.
... One hectare of black locust stand can produce more than 1500 kg of high-quality honey [31]. It thrives on marginal sites but grows best on sites with good fertility (deep productive layer, rich in nutrients), adequate water balance, loose, less acidic, sandy, sandy loam soils with near neutral chemistry [32][33][34]. Today, in Hungary, black locust grows approximately 24% of the more than 2 million ha of tree cover [35]. Currently, it is the most widely cultivated tree species in Hungary. ...
(1) Background: The aim of our study is to present the results of initial growth and plant physiology studies of newly selected, vegetative propagated black locust clones, with a view to assess their suitability for the establishment of fast growing tree plantations for the production of high quality timber in marginal (semi-arid) sites. (2) Methods: In the spring (May) and autumn (November) of 2021, full inventories were carried out in the black locust industrial tree plantation. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values were observed monthly from May to September 2021. For measuring the assimilation parameters the net assimilation, transpiration, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO2 concentration, and other physiological parameters were recorded. (3) Results: Robinia pseudoacacia ‘NK2′ clone showed the highest assimilation rate and it produced the most height increment in the growing season, from May 2021 to November 2021. The discriminant analysis classified successfully the black locust clones, 86.7% of original grouped cases were correctly classified. (4) Conclusions: The study of industrial tree plantations is of great practical importance. As black locust can tolerate even marginal site conditions, the lack of timber can be reduced in the future by establishing black locust industrial tree plantations. To be able to produce good quality industrial wood on the plantations, it is essential to study the phytophysiological properties of the trees (biomass production, vegetation activity of plants, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic activity) in addition to the traditional stand full inventories.
... In addition, black locust growth was much more advanced in comparison to poplar growth in Deppoldshausen (in both mixture and pure stands) than in Reinshof (for example, mean stem volume of Robinia was 19 times higher than poplar in the mixture in 2017 in Deppoldshausen vs. 4.7 times in Reinshof). The significantly advanced growth of black locust in Deppoldshausen is a result of its high tolerance to poor soil conditions (leptosols soil type) in comparison to poplar [79]. ...
Mixed cropping in short rotation coppice can be an alternative to monocultures. To design optimized mixtures, field trials are needed. Poplar, as an economically important and fast-growing species, and black locust, as a nitrogen-fixing species, are promising candidates for such studies. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was used to monitor effects of mixed and pure cultivations on the gene expression of poplar along with growth measurements during 2017 and 2018. Both biomass production and leaf transcriptomes revealed a strong competition pressure of black locust and the abiotic environment on poplar trees. Gene expression differed between the two study sites and pure and mixed stands. Shading effects from black locust caused the downregulation of photosynthesis and upregulation of shade avoidance genes in mixed stands in 2017. As a result of higher light availability after cutting black locust, plant organ development genes were upregulated in mixed stands in 2018. Drought conditions during the summer of 2018 and competition for water between the two species caused the upregulation of drought stress response genes in mixed stands and at the unfavorable growing site. Further investigations are required to discover the mechanisms of interspecific competition and to develop stand designs, which could increase the success and productivity of mixed plantations.
... 4). Tak wysoka jego zawartość (Vítková et al., 2015) może wskazywać na stabilność zespołu w dłuższej perspektywie czasu. Mały udział robinii w podszycie wskazuje, że zbiorowisko pozostanie stabilne do czasu życia dorosłych osobników tego gatunku. ...
There is wide recognition that urban green space provides city residents with considerable benefits, inter alia of an environmental, economic and health-related profile. However, the different types of urban greenery include a rather large proportion taking the form of vegetation on abandoned sites that remain uncultivated, to the extent that a plant cover develops without much active human involvement. Almost by definition, there is only a poor level of recognition of the ecological potential such sites (here referred to as “informal green spaces” – IGS) enjoy, or of their capacity to render a variety of different ecosystem services. Against that background, the work presented here entailed in-depth study of the flora and plant communities present in Warsaw’s informal green spaces, the aim being to better ascertain their role in preserving biodiversity and delivering ecosystem services. Specifically, we identified the plant species composition present at 75 different locations within the urban green space of Poland’s capital city. To qualify for consideration, these sites had to be identified as entirely bereft of vegetation maintenance, or else only minimally subject to it, to the extent that it is largely processes of natural succession that are ongoing. The sites in fact range from wastelands with stabilised vegetation, via urban scrub and forest, through to non-forest habitats, sporadically cultivated and established over 20 years. We determined the density of vegetation present, and examined its structure in relation to various known classes of green space. We further determined the role of various vegetation types in rendering ecosystem services, be that surface cooling, substrate moisture maintenance or a capacity to remove particulate matter from the air. The informal green spaces we investigated are in fact found to comprise mainly-stable forest communities dominated by invasive species of tree (phytosociological Classes Robinietea and Salicetea purpureae), as well as non-forest communities (of Classes Molinio-Arrhenatheretea, Epilobietea and Artemisietea) again largely dominated by invasive plant species. The level of biodiversity here is average, it mostly being common forest and non-forest species that are preserved. However, in exceptional cases, the habitats constituted here do support species rare on a regional scale. It emerges that the forest vegetation is of weakly-diversified structure, as a reflection of the specific strategy invasive species pursue as they form monospecific communities. As noted already, the vegetation of the informal green spaces is seen to be largely dominated by such invasive species. Nevertheless, despite their evidently limited role in preserving biodiversity, these sites represent such a high density and volume of vegetation that their provisioning of ecosystem services is on a high level, especially where forest plant communities are involved. Sites that have come to be dominated by invasive plant species are shown to render ecosystem services comparable with (or sometimes even surpassing) those provided by native species, and this is especially the case when it comes to the removal of particulate matter from air and the exerting of a cooling effect.
... Black locust wood is durable, high quality, and is utilized for many purposes (Keresztesi 1988, Lee et a. 2004, Noh et al. 2010, Rédei 2013, Lee et al. 2019, Nicolescu et al. 2020. In addition to its many advantageous properties, its ability to propagate aggressively and its inability to associate due to its high light demand and strong root competition should not be overlooked (Vítková et al. 2015(Vítková et al. , 2017. Furthermore, common black locust may also possess negative tree characteristics to varying degrees. ...
In the late 1990s, Hungarian Forest Research Institute researchers produced 15 micropropogated black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) clones as part of a program to select clones that could be successfully grown on arid sites. Five of these clones (R.p. ‘Vacsi’, R.p. ‘Szálas’, R.p. ‘Oszlopos’, R.p. ‘Homoki’ and R.p. ‘Bácska’) have been categorized as cultivar candidates. The current study presents information concerning the ‘Bácska’, ‘Vacsi’ and ‘Homoki’ candidate cultivars. Based on research results obtained thus far, the three aforementioned candidate cultivars seem the most promising. The cultivars, aged 6-15 years, were tested in a variety comparison trial under arid, sandy soil conditions in the Danube–Tisza Interfluve near the town of Helvécia. Significant differences (p<0.05) were observed during results evaluation of full inventories and during the comparison of candidate cultivars partly with common black locust and partly with ‘Jászkiséri’ cultivars. The 15-yearold ‘Homoki’ outperformed common black locust in diameter and mean tree volume; ‘Vacsi’ outperformed in stem quality. The 14-year-old ‘Bácska’ candidate cultivar was compared with the ‘Jászkiséri’ cultivar and the ‘Oszlopos’ cultivar candidate. ‘Bácska’ proved to be significantly better in diameter and mean tree volume than Jászkiséri’, but weaker in trunk quality. The South Korean National Institute of Forest Science has supported this research for several years. The growing technology of the mentioned candidate cultivars are also examined in Korea, taking local ecological conditions into account.
... For example, significant positive economic outcomes at the local and national levels derived from these products were recently reported in Romania and Hungary ( Nicolescu et al., 2018 ). This species has one of the broadest habitat ranges among non-native invasive trees and can tolerate a wide range of physical-chemical soil conditions ( Vítková et al., 2015 ). Climatic tolerance is also quite broad, although frost is an important limitation factor in its non-native range . ...
... Despite its multipurpose utilization and many good qualities, it can have negative impacts on the ecosystem. Black locust is considered as an invasive tree species, by changing the chemical, physical and biological properties of soil and causing extinction of many endangered plant species (Boring, Swank 1984;Boer 2013;Vítková et al. 2015Vítková et al. , 2017Vítková et al. , 2018. ...
Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) is one of the most widespread tree species introduced into Europe and also into Hungary. It covers 24% of the total Hungarian forest area, providing 25% of the annual timber output of the country. Due to the demands of consumers, new cultivars are to be produced by means of improvement techniques and are to be introduced into the practical forestry use. Mono- and multiclonal cultivars were developed, then variety comparison trials and cultivation tests were established. Based on preliminary yield tests the locust cultivar ‘Jászkiséri’ (Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Jászkiséri’) proved to be one of the best black locust cultivars. Consequently, a more precise investigation of the stand structure of this cultivar may also make a significant contribution to the improvement of the relevant cultivation technology. In this study, based on full inventories of 13 stands in 7 subcompartments, age of 5 to 35 years, relationships of mean tree volume to diameter (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.9797) and basal area (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.9781), furthermore the relationship between mean tree volume and diameter of the stands (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.9993) were examined. Besides that, the comparison of 15-year-old ‘Jászkiséri’ and common black locust (a case study) were presented in this paper, where ‘Jászkiséri’ proved to be better: significant differences (P < 0.05) were found in diameter, mean tree volume and stem form.
... For example, significant positive economic outcomes at the local and national levels derived from these products were recently reported in Romania and Hungary ( Nicolescu et al., 2018 ). This species has one of the broadest habitat ranges among non-native invasive trees and can tolerate a wide range of physical-chemical soil conditions ( Vítková et al., 2015 ). Climatic tolerance is also quite broad, although frost is an important limitation factor in its non-native range . ...
Forests are a unique study ecosystem that can reveal global insights into the patterns and processes associated with biological invasions via their natural diversity, as well as their diversity of anthropogenic interactions. In this chapter we focus on emblematic species groups in different forest ecosystems, giving temperate and tropical examples of plant, pathogen and arthropod invasions. Impacts of biological invasions on biodiversity are often complex and context-dependent, as in the case of the non-native tree Robinia pseudoacacia. Experiences of the invasiveness, invisibility and risk mitigation of forest pathogens, non-native bark and ambrosia beetles in Europe represent important insight that has the potential to help control non-native species worldwide. Indeed, actively managing forest ecosystems is critical to deal with non-native invasive species via direct control as well as building inherent resilience to invasion. However, there are important differences between regions that are further explored here for both tropical and temperate forests. In addition, by using a novel code of conduct, specific aspects for mitigating invasion risk from plantations are presented. Benefits for the management of biological invasions will flow from knowledge on the effects of context-specific management actions and via their integrated application in preventing and stopping forest invasions.
... Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust), is a tree native to North America (southeastern parts of United States) that has been widely planted around the world over a long period of time (Li et al., 2018a). R. pseudoacacia has the advantages of N fixation, drought resistance (Vítková et al., 2015), frost resistance, heavy metal stress, etc., for the reason that it is widely used for afforestation as a tree species of the Grain for Green Program in China. According to the 9th national forest resources inventory of China, R. pseudoacacia forest is the sixth largest planted forest in China (SFGA, 2019). ...
Afforestation made great contributions to ecological benefits across China. Robinia pseudoacacia is widely used in the Grain-for-Green Program. The responses of soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil total nitrogen (STN) to afforestation with R. pseudoacacia on cropland depend on plantation attributes, climatic factors, topographic features, and edaphic variables, thus making a synthesis of these studies necessary for understanding the magnitude and direction of SOC and STN to afforestation and the associated regulating factors. A meta-analysis was employed by compiling data of 1202 paired observations from 94 peer-reviewed publications to depict potential mechanisms of change in SOC and STN stocks following afforestation with R. pseudoacacia on cropland. Afforestation with R. pseudoacacia on cropland, on average, significantly and positively increased SOC and STN stocks. The changes in SOC and STN stocks increased with plantation age and altitude, but decreased with mean annual temperature, slope gradients, soil depth, soil clay content, initial SOC content and initial STN content. Greater accumulation rates of SOC and STN stocks after afforestation were detected in middle canopy density (0.6–0.8) and middle mean annual precipitation (450–550 mm). Among four kinds of biotic and abiotic factors, plantation attributes made greatest contributes to the variance in the response size of SOC and STN stocks. In particular, plantation age was the most essential variable on the response size of SOC and STN stocks. These results indicated that SOC and STN stocks following afforestation with R. pseudoacacia on cropland could be enhanced through plantation management practices.
... It is a drought-resistant tree that can grow on dry, rocky sites, and fixes atmospheric nitrogen in symbiosis with Rhizobium. Therefore, it has become a species for marginal lands where soil improvement is sought in addition to economic gain [34,35], as well as an invasive plant that threatens natural habitats by reducing local biodiversity [36][37][38]. Chemical studies revealed the presence of flavonoids [32], condensed tannins [39], immunopotentiating polysaccharides [40], and an essential oil from the flowers with antimicrobial activity against selected foodborne pathogens [41]. ...
Invasive alien plant species (IAPS) are one of the biggest challenges in European ecosystems, displacing local vegetation, destroying agricultural land, and causing billions of dollars of damage to the European economy every year. Many of them are removed daily and mainly burned. In this work, we investigated the possibilities of using plants as feedstock for paper production. Papers made from three invasive alien plants, i.e., Knotweed, Goldenrod, and Black locust, were studied and compared with commercial office paper. The study included testing of: (1) structural properties— basic physical properties, grammage, thickness, density and specific volume, moisture content, and ash content; (2) physical and dynamic mechanical properties—tensile strength, Clark stiffness, viscoelastic properties; (3) colorimetric properties of prints; (4) effect of UV light on ageing; and (5) study of cellulose fiber structure and morphology by microscopy. The results suggested that the paper produced can be used as commercial office paper, considering that the paper is slightly dyed. Such papers can also be used for special purposes that present a natural style and connection to nature. The papers produced can also be used for printing documents that are meant to be kept.
... Plant community structure and productivity in natural environments depend, among other factors, on soil nutrient availability and soil microbial communities (Reynolds and Haubensak 2009;Vitkova et al. 2015;Liu et al., 2018a;Chen et al. 2020). Soil nutrient availability can alter soil processes catalyzed by soil microbial communities (Yang et al. 2016). ...
Background
Robinia pseudoacacia is a widely planted pioneer tree species in reforestations on barren mountains in northern China. Because of its nitrogen-fixing ability, it can play a positive role in soil and forest restoration. After clear-cutting of planted stands, R. pseudoacacia stands become coppice plantations. The impacts of shifting from seedling to coppice stands on soil bacterial community and soil properties have not been well described. This study aims to quantify how soil properties and bacterial community composition vary between planted seedling versus coppice stands.
Methods
Nine 20 m × 20 m plots were randomly selected in seedling and coppice stands. The bulk soil and rhizosphere soil were sampled in summer 2017. Bulk soil was sampled at 10 cm from the soil surface using a soil auger. Rhizosphere soil samples were collected using a brush. The soil samples were transported to the laboratory for chemical analysis, and bacterial community composition and diversity was obtained through DNA extraction, 16S rRNA gene amplification and high-throughput sequencing.
Results
The results showed that, compared to seedling plantations, soil quality decreased significantly in coppice stands, but without affecting soil exchangeable Mg ²⁺ and K ⁺ . Total carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) were lower in the rhizosphere than in bulk soil, whereas nutrient availability showed an opposite trend. The conversion from seedling to coppice plantations was also related to significant differences in soil bacterial community structure and to the reduction of soil bacterial α-diversity. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that bacterial community composition was similar in both bulk and rhizosphere soils in second-generation coppice plantations. Specially, the conversion from seedling to coppice stands increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Rhizobium , but reduced that of Actinobacteria , which may result in a decline of soil nutrient availability. Mantel tests revealed that C, N, soil organic matter (SOM), nitrate nitrogen (NO 3 ⁻ -N) and available phosphorus positively correlated with bacterial community composition, while a variation partition analysis (VPA) showed that NO 3 ⁻ -N explained a relatively greater proportion of bacterial distribution (15.12%), compared with C and SOM. Surprisingly, N showed no relationship with bacterial community composition, which may be related to nitrogen transportation.
Conclusions
The conversion from seedling to coppice stands reduced soil quality and led to spatial-temporal homogenization of the soil bacterial community structure in both the rhizosphere and bulk soils. Such imbalance in microbial structure can accelerate the decline of R. pseudoacacia . This may affect the role of R. pseudoacacia coppice stands in soil and forest restoration of barren lands in mountain areas.
... Its invasion poses a threat to biodiversity at different trophic levels (Peloquin and Hiebert, 1999;Nascimbene and Marini, 2010;Benesperi et al., 2012;Hanzelka and Reif, 2016;Lazzaro et al., 2018). Moreover, it can strongly deprive the soil of water and trigger soil desiccation (Wang et al., 2004;Vítková et al., 2015;Su and Shangguan, 2019). It has been reported to increase nitrogen flow into the river and thus contaminate the water in a floodplain ecosystem of Ukraine (Buzhdygan et al., 2016). ...
Robinia pseudoacacia is regarded as a valuable but problematic plant due to its positive and negative environmental effects. A comprehensive and mechanistic understanding of the effects of R. pseudoacacia afforestation on ecosystems and striking a balance between ecosystem safety and functioning and R. pseudoacacia naturalization are crucially important. To achieve these goals, studying the community functional structure of R. pseudoacacia plantations is an essential prerequisite that remains understudied. Through quantifying and comparing the functional structure of R. pseudoacacia plantations and naturally restored communities relating to soil erosion control and plant ecology strategies along a 10–40-year chronosequence on the hilly and gullied Loess Plateau, China, we assessed the effects of R. pseudoacacia afforestation on plant community structure from a functional perspective. We found significant differences among restoration strategies in all the functional composition indices but only functional divergence (FDiv) indices, suggesting that the afforestation practice had a great impact on functional composition but not on functional diversity. Specifically, the plantations had relatively high community-weighted means (CWMs) of specific leaf area (SLA), plant height (PH), seed production, seed mass, root mean diameter, clonality and resprouting capacity and high FDivs of the leaf-height-seed scheme and persistence traits, partially suggesting that the exotic tree could naturalize and coexist with native plants in the study area. Moreover, the relatively high CWMs of woodiness, PH and SLA and high FDiv of erosion-control-related traits found in the plantations indicate that the plantations might have superiority in soil erosion control. R. pseudoacacia also had a homogenization effect on understory functional composition and divergence. Furthermore, we proposed a trait-based effect-and-response framework to find the balance, thus achieving sustainable coexistence of the exotic species with ecosystems. This study may provide new prospects for management practices of R. pseudoacacia plantations and a robust scaffold to maintain safe, resilient and functioning ecosystems.
... However, this is a limitation of the relationship between the root system and root-associated microbiome of leguminous tree species. Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) is an N-fixing leguminous tree species that increases soil N levels and enhances nitrification and N mineralization in soil via symbiotic N fixation with rhizobia, in turn promoting plant growth in poor or degraded soils [26,27]. In addition, Robinia pseudoacacia (R. pseudoacacia) is used for soil rehabilitation [28]. ...
The high plasticity of root morphology, physiology, and function influences root-associated microbiomes. However, the variation in root-associated microbiome diversity and structures in response to root diameter at different root depths remains poorly understood. Here, we selected black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) as a model plant to investigate the selection and network interactions of rhizospheric and root endophytic bacterial microbiomes associated with roots of different diameters (1, 1–2, and > 2 mm) among root depths of 0–100 cm via the Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The results showed that the alpha diversity of the root-associated bacterial communities decreased with increasing root diameters among different root depths; fewer orders with higher relative abundance, especially in the endosphere, were enriched in association with coarse roots (> 2 mm) than fine roots among root depths. Furthermore, the variation in the enriched bacterial orders associated with different root diameters was explained by bulk soil properties. Higher co-occurrence network complexity and stability emerged in the rhizosphere microbiomes of fine roots than those of coarse roots, in contrast to the situation in the endosphere microbiomes. In particular, the endosphere of roots with a diameter of 1–2 mm exhibited the lowest network complexity and stability and a high proportion of keystone taxa (e.g., Cytophagia, Flavobacteriia, Sphingobacteriia, β-Proteobacteria, and γ-Proteobacteria), suggesting a keystone taxon-reliant strategy in this transitional stage. In summary, this study indicated that root diameter at different root depths differentially affects rhizospheric and endophytic bacterial communities, which implies a close relationship between the bacterial microbiome, root function, and soil properties.
... We also plan to acquire images of different seasons (spring, summer and autumn), which will help to increase the accuracy of the model, something already shown as a basic solution in related work [39]. In this context, the work in [40] demonstrated the effectiveness of a multi-temporal dataset on image classification issues. Generating synthetic data is another option worth considering [41], [42]. ...
Natural forests are complex ecosystems whose tree species distribution and their ecosystem functions are still not well understood. Sustainable management of these forests is of high importance because of their significant role in climate regulation, biodiversity, soil erosion and disaster prevention among many other ecosystem services they provide. In Japan particularly, natural forests are mainly located in steep mountains, hence the use of aerial imagery in combination with computer vision are important modern tools that can be applied to forest research. Thus, this study constitutes a preliminary research in this field, aiming at classifying tree species in Japanese mixed forests using UAV images and deep learning in two different mixed forest types: a black pine (Pinus thunbergii)-black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and a larch (Larix kaempferi)-oak (Quercus mongolica) mixed forest. Our results indicate that it is possible to identify black locust trees with 62.6% True Positives (TP) and 98.1% True Negatives (TN), while lower precision was reached for larch trees (37.4% TP and 97.7% TN).
... Plant community structure and productivity in natural environments depend, among other factors, on soil nutrient availability and soil microbial communities (Reynolds, H. L., & Haubensak, K. A. 2009;Vitkova et al. 2015;Chen et al. 2020). Soil nutrient availability can alter soil processes catalyzed by soil microbial communities (Yang et al. 2016). ...
Background: Robinia pseudoacacia is a widely planted pioneer tree species in reforestations on barren mountains in northern China. Because of its nitrogen-fixing ability, it can play a positive role in soil and forest restoration. After clear-cutting of planted stands, R. pseudoacacia stands become coppice plantations. The impacts of shifting from seedling to coppice stands on soil bacterial community and soil properties have not been well described. This study aims to quantify how soil properties and bacterial community composition vary between planted seedling versus coppice stands.
Methods: Nine 20×20 m plots were randomly selected in seedling and coppice stands. The bulk soil and rhizosphere soil were sampled in summer 2017. Bulk soil was sampled at 10 cm from the soil surface using a soil auger. Rhizosphere soil samples were collected using a brush. The soil samples were transported to the laboratory for chemical analysis, and bacterial community composition and diversity was obtained through DNA extraction, 16S rRNA gene amplification and high-throughput sequencing.
Results: The results showed that, compared to seedling plantations, soil quality decreased significantly in coppice stands, but without affecting soil exchangeable Mg²⁺ and K⁺. Total carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) were lower in the rhizosphere than in bulk soil, whereas nutrient availability showed an opposite trend. The conversion from seedling to coppice plantations was also related to significant differences in soil bacterial community structure and to the reduction of soil bacterial α-diversity. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that bacterial community composition was similar in both bulk and rhizosphere soils in second generation coppice plantations. Specially, the conversion from seedling to coppice stands increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Rhizobium, but reduced that of Actinobacteria, which may result in a decline of soil nutrient availability. Mantel tests revealed that C, N, Soil organic matter (SOM), nitrate nitrogen (NO3⁻-N) and available phosphorus positively correlated with bacterial community composition, while a variation partition analysis (VPA) showed that NO3⁻-N explained a relatively greater proportion of bacterial distribution (15.12%), compared with C and SOM. Surprisingly, N showed no relationship with bacterial community composition, which may be related to nitrogen transportation.
Conclusions: The conversion from seedling to coppice stands reduced soil quality and led to spatial-temporal homogenization of the soil bacterial community structure in both the rhizosphere and bulk soils. Such imbalance in microbial structure can accelerate the decline of R. pseudoacacia. This may affect the role of R. pseudoacacia coppice stands in soil and forest restoration of barren lands in mountain areas.
... Plant community structure and productivity in natural environments depend, among other factors, on soil nutrient availability and soil microbial communities (Reynolds, H. L., & Haubensak, K. A. 2009;Vitkova et al. 2015;Chen et al. 2020). Soil nutrient availability can alter soil processes catalyzed by soil microbial communities (Yang et al. 2016). ...
Background: Robinia pseudoacacia is a widely planted pioneer tree species in reforestations on barren mountains in northern China. Because of its nitrogen-fixing ability, it can play a positive role in soil and forest restoration. After clear-cutting of planted stands, R. pseudoacacia stands become coppice plantations. The impacts of shifting from seedling to coppice stands on soil bacterial community and soil properties have not been well described. This study aims to quantify how soil properties and bacterial community composition vary between planted seedling versus coppice stands.
Methods: Nine 20×20 m plots were randomly selected in seedling and coppice stands. The bulk soil and rhizosphere soil were sampled in summer 2017. Bulk soil was sampled at 10 cm from the soil surface using a soil auger. Rhizosphere soil samples were collected using a brush. The soil samples were transported to the laboratory for chemical analysis, and bacterial community composition and diversity was obtained through DNA extraction, 16S rRNA gene amplification and high-throughput sequencing.
Results: The results showed that, compared to seedling plantations, soil quality decreased significantly in coppice stands, but without affecting soil exchangeable Mg²⁺ and K⁺. Total carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) were lower in the rhizosphere than in bulk soil, whereas nutrient availability showed an opposite trend. The conversion from seedling to coppice plantations was also related to significant differences in soil bacterial community structure and to the reduction of soil bacterial α-diversity. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that bacterial community composition was similar in both bulk and rhizosphere soils in second generation coppice plantations. Specially, the conversion from seedling to coppice stands increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Rhizobium, but reduced that of Actinobacteria, which may result in a decline of soil nutrient availability. Mantel tests revealed that C, N, Soil organic matter (SOM), nitrate nitrogen (NO3⁻-N) and available phosphorus positively correlated with bacterial community composition, while a variation partition analysis (VPA) showed that NO3⁻-N explained a relatively greater proportion of bacterial distribution (15.12%), compared with C and SOM. Surprisingly, N showed no relationship with bacterial community composition, which may be related to nitrogen transportation.
Conclusions: The conversion from seedling to coppice stands reduced soil quality and led to spatial-temporal homogenization of the soil bacterial community structure in both the rhizosphere and bulk soils. Such imbalance in microbial structure can accelerate the decline of R. pseudoacacia. This may affect the role of R. pseudoacacia coppice stands in soil and forest restoration of barren lands in mountain areas.
... This finding is consistent with the previous observation that phosphorus availability is a key factor regulating the soil microbial community (Liu et al. 2018a;Qin et al. 2020). Soil nitrogen components, including TN, NO 3 − and NH 4 + , play an important role in regulating soil fungal community composition and diversity, and this finding could be partly caused by the nitrogen-fixing capacity of Robinia pseudoacacia, which results in high NO 3 − and low NH 4 + contents (Vitkova et al. 2015). A recent report also found that changes in the soil fungal community structure across primary and secondary forests were significantly related to the levels of soil NO 3 − (McGee et al. 2019). ...
Aims
The objective of this study was to analyze the responses of the soil fungal community to the afforestation of cropland with single and mixed tree species.
Methods
We investigated changes in soil fungal community composition, diversity, structure and functional groups in the topsoil (0–20 cm) following afforestation. Six forest types were analyzed in this study: Robinia pseudoacacia (RP), Platycladus orientalis (PO), Pinus tabuliformis (PT), Robinia pseudoacacia + Platycladus orientalis (RPPO), Robinia pseudoacacia + Pinus tabuliformis (RPPT), and Platycladus orientalis + Pinus tabuliformis (POPT).
Results
Soil fungal community composition and diversity significantly varied among cropland and forestland samples. Afforestation generally reduced soil fungal diversity and altered functional groups, and these variations were mainly mediated by tree species. Rare genera play an important role in the soil fungal network among cropland and forestland samples. Soil available phosphorus (AP) explained the largest portion of the variance in the soil fungal community. Soil available nutrients and microclimate were significantly associated with soil fungal diversity and richness.
Conclusions
Our observations indicate that afforestation of cropland fundamentally restructures soil fungal community composition, structure, diversity and functional groups. Nutrient availability was a principal factor regulating fungal community composition following afforestation.
... Earlier studies have shown that R. pseudoacacia can cause adverse effects on the soil ecosystem [62], native plant community [63], and soil microbial community [64], because N-enrichment can cause soil degradation through strong nitrification, leaching, and acidification [65], and the negative effect will get worse with increasing plantation ages. The ratio of F/B depends on the relative abundance of fungi and bacteria in soil [54]. ...
Robinia pseudoacacia is widely planted on the Loess Plateau as a strong drought-tolerant and salt-tolerant species for vegetation restoration. However, this mode of pure plantation has triggered great concern over the soil ecosystem. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of the plantation on soil physiochemical properties, soil microorganisms, and the relationship between them in Robinia pseudoacacia plantations of different ages. Four different ages of Robinia pseudoacacia stands, including 10-year-old, 15-year-old, 25-year-old, and 40-year-old (abbreviated as Y10, Y15, Y25, and Y40, respectively) were selected, and 20 soil physicochemical and biological indicators were determined. The variation in soil microbial biomass was influenced by sampling depth, and consistent with the variations in TN (soil total nitrogen) and SOC (soil organic carbon) during 25 years' artificial forestation. Soil moisture increased significantly at Y15 and then decreased at Y40 but other soil properties remained relatively stable. The contents of phosphor lipid fatty acid (PLFA) of different microbial groups followed the order of B (Bacteria) > G − (Gram-negative) > G + (Gram-positive) > A (Actinomycetes) > F (Fungi). The ratios of F/B (Fungi to Bacteria) and Sat/Mono (Saturated PLFAs to Monosaturated PLFAs) of different ages of plantations showed a similar trend, i.e., declined first, then rose, and declined again. The ratios of Cy/Pre (Cyclopropyl PLFAs to Precursor PLFAs) and G + /G − (Gram-positive to Gram-negative) of the soil of all ages of plantations showed a trend of slow growth and a trend of rapid growth, respectively. Redundancy analysis showed that the contents of individual PLFAs and total PLFA were positively correlated with SOC and TN, but variations of soil PLFA ratios mostly depended on other soil properties. After artificial forestation, the ratios of F/B and Sat/Mono were lower than before forestation, while the ratio of Cy/Pre varied with different soil layers. The ratio of G + /G − increased with the increase in afforestation time, peaking at the 25th year. The contents of individual PLFAs and total PLFA may be sensitive indicators of SOC and TN within 25 years' plantation. Lower ratio of F/B and higher G + /G − suggest that the sustainability of the ecosystem is weaker and the fertility of the soil is lower after plantation of Robinia pseudoacacia.
... Plant community structure and productivity in natural environments depends, among other factors, on soil nutrient availabilityand soil microbial communities (Reynolds, H. L., & Haubensak, K. A. 2009;Vitkova et al. 2015;Chen et al. 2020). Soil nutrient availability can alter soil processes catalyzed by soil microbial communities (Yang et al. 2016). ...
Background: Robinia pseudoacacia is a widely planted pioneer tree species in reforestations on barren mountains in northern China. Because of its nitrogen-fixing ability, it can play a positive role in soil and forest restoration. After clear-cutting of planted stands, R. pseudoacacia stands become coppice plantations. The impacts of shifting from seedling to coppice plantations on soil bacterial community and soil properties have not been well described. This study aims to quantify how soil properties and bacterial community composition vary between planted seedling versus coppice stands.
Methods: Three 20×20 m plots were randomly selected in each seedling and coppice stand. The bulk soil and rhizosphere soil were sampled in the nine above-mentioned sample plots in the summer of 2017. Bulk soil was sampled at 10 cm from the soil surface using a soil auger. Rhizosphere soil samples were collected by brush. The soil samples were transported to the laboratory for chemical analysis and bacterial community composition and diversity was obtanied through DNA extraction, 16S rRNA gene amplification and high throughput sequencing.
Results: The results showed that, compared to seedling plantations, soil quality decreased significantly in coppice stands, but without affecting soil exchangeable Mg²⁺ and K⁺. Total carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) were lower in the rhizosphere than in bulk soil, whereas nutrient availability showed an opposite trend. The conversion from seedling to coppice plantations was also related to significant differences in soil bacterial community structure and to the reduction of soil bacterial α-diversity. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that, bacterial community composition was similar in both bulk and rhizosphere soils in second generation coppice plantations. Specially, the conversion from seedling to coppice increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Rhizobium, but reduced that of Actinobacteria, which may result in a decline of soil nutrient availability. Mantel tests revealed that C, N, Soil organic matter (SOM), nitrate nitrogen (NO3⁻-N) and available phosphorus positively correlated with bacterial community composition, while a variation partition analysis (VPA) showed that NO3⁻-N explained a relatively greater proportion of bacterial distribution (15.12%), compared with C and SOM. Surprinsingly, N showed no relationship with bacterial community composition, which may be related to nitrogen transportation.
Conclusions: The conversion from seedling to coppice stands reduced soil quality and led to spatial-temporal homogenization of the soil bacterial community structure in both the rhizosphere and bulk soils. Such imbalance in microbial structure can accelerate the decline of R. pseudoacacia. This may affect the role of R. pseudoacacia coppice stands in soil and forest restoration of barren lands in mountain areas.
... To test the effects of N supply and phenological development on N 2 -fixing tree species, a legume tree species, Robinia pseudoacacia L., was used as a main species for this study. Robinia pseudoacacia, with a high adaptivity and relative growth rate (Cierjacks et al. 2013, Vítková et al. 2015, is widely used in many countries in afforestation efforts (Boring and Swank 1984). Many studies have considered it as an invasive species (De Marco et al. 2013). ...
Robinia pseudoacacia is a legume species that is widely used in afforestation which has high N2-fixation capacity and rapid growth rate. Both nitrogen (N) supply and phenology affect plant growth, photosynthesis and leaf senescence. The aim of this study was to determine how N supply affects N2 fixation, leaf photosynthesis and senescence of R. pseudoacacia at different phenological stages. Seedlings of R. pseudoacacia were supplied with different levels of 15N-labeled NH4NO3 solution, with seedlings of Sophora japonica as reference plants to calculate the percentage of N derived from the atmospheric N2 (%Ndfa). Compared with plants supplied with a high N level, those with a low N supply had a higher %Ndfa at an early developmental stage. Nitrogen fixation compensated the effect of a low N supply on plant growth in R. pseudoacacia. A high N supply decreased biomass allocation to lateral roots and nodules, and increased the relative growth rate of plant height as well as specific leaf area. The eighth mature compound leaf of R. pseudoacacia tended to have a higher net photosynthetic rate than the fourth leaf, and the leaves still maintained a moderate photosynthetic rate in early autumn. Plants tended to allocate more biomass to leaves at an early developmental stage and to stems and roots at a later developmental stage (three months old). The N level did not affect leaf photosynthesis at different phenological stages, primarily due to 1) a high %Ndfa under low N supply at early growing stage, and a similar high %Ndfa under all N supplies at a late growing stage, and 2) the delayed greening phenotype of expanding leaves to save nutrients for mature leaves.
... We also plan to acquire images of different seasons (spring, summer and autumn), which will help to increase the accuracy of the model, something already shown as a basic solution in related work [39]. In this context, the work in [40] demonstrated the effectiveness of a multi-temporal dataset on image classification issues. Generating synthetic data is another option worth considering [41], [42]. ...
Natural forests are complex ecosystems whose tree species distribution and their ecosystem functions are still not well understood. Sustainable management of these forests is of high importance because of their significant role in climate regulation, biodiversity, soil erosion and disaster prevention among many other ecosystem services they provide. In Japan particularly, natural forests are mainly located in steep mountains, hence the use of aerial imagery in combination with computer vision are important modern tools that can be applied to forest research. Thus, this study constitutes a preliminary research in this field, aiming at classifying tree species in Japanese mixed forests using UAV images and deep learning in two different mixed forest types: a black pine (Pinus thunbergii)-black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and a larch (Larix kaempferi)-oak (Quercus mongolica) mixed forest. Our results indicate that it is possible to identify black locust trees with 62.6 % True Positives (TP) and 98.1% True Negatives (TN), while lower precision was reached for larch trees (37.4% TP and 97.7% TN).
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust), an alien species in Japan, has been commonly planted to rehabilitate degraded land and as a resource for the production of honey. Although very few R. pseudoacacia adult trees are found in established mature forests, the management of R. pseudoacacia is a vital and urgent matter because of astounding growth potential, which negatively affects biodiversity and native vegetation. For this reason, we evaluated the seasonal shade‐acclimation capacity of black locusts from the viewpoint of photosynthetic nitrogen use ( PNU ) and their partitioning. We assessed in situ photosynthetic N use traits of R. pseudoacacia leaves at open sites (relative photosynthetic photon flux density: ( rPPFD ) > 90%) and shaded sites ( rPPFD < 22%) on the forest floor in larch ( Larix kaempferi Carr.) plantations. Leaf unfolding started in late May and leaves turned yellow by mid‐October just before leaf shedding. Shoot length at open sites was three times longer than at shaded sites. R. psudoacacia at open sites has more the leaflet number of each pinnate compound leaf than shaded sites from mid‐August to October, and the size of leaflets at shaded sites was about 20% smaller than it was at the open sites. Leaf mass per area showed (mean ± standard deviation) 40.00 ± 2.14 g m ⁻² at the open sites and 22 ± 1.56 g m ⁻² at the shaded sites from June to October. The light‐saturated photosynthetic rate peaked at 22 μmol m ⁻² s ⁻¹ at the open sites in July. At the shaded sites, it gradually increased to 7–10 μmol m ⁻² s ⁻¹ around August, and then decreased at both sites toward zero in mid‐October. The total N content during the growth period was 1.60 ± 0.17 g m ⁻² at open sites and 1.16 ± 0.15 g m ⁻² at shaded sites. Unlike other tree species, N partitioning to photosynthetic organs was not affected by light conditions. These findings suggested R. psudoacacia cannot acclimate to shady conditions.
Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) plantations have contributed significantly to soil and water conservation and ecological reconstruction on China’s Loess Plateau. Understanding the impact of stand and environment on species composition of understory woody plants will improve the stability of existing black locust plantations. Ten stands were selected in second-generation black locust plantations in tableland and gully areas of the Loess Plateau. The number of understory tree species in the tablelands was significantly lower than in the gully stands. Regenerated black locust (19.76%) and Rubus corchorifolius L.f. (64.85%) were the most abundant understory tree and shrub species, respectively, in the tableland stands; Broussonetia papyrifera (L.) L'Hér. ex Vent. (6.77%) and Acanthopanax senticosus (Rupr. Maxim.) Harms. (37.22%) were most abundant in the gully stands. Species richness (S), Shannon diversity (H), and evenness index (J) of the understory plants were significantly lower in the tableland stands than in the gully stands. More diverse understory species and community structures occurred in the gully stands. Differences in species diversity among landform positions may be attributed to differences in soil moisture. In addition, 77.57% of the variation in understory species composition was explained, among which shrub and herb coverage, stand age, leaf area index, slope and total soil phosphorus in the 10–20 cm layer were the main factors. Soil organic carbon and total potassium significantly impacted S, H and J. Considering the environmental conditions and the biological characteristics of the plants investigated, R. corchorifolius should be given priority in the development of tableland stands, while B. papyrifera and Celtis sinensis Pers. should form mixed forests with black locust in gully stands. This management could promote biodiversity and stability of the existing black locust plantations but also optimize regional landscape patterns.
Two major afforestation species in Xiong’an New Area: Armeniaca vulgaris and Sabina chinensis were selected as research objects. We determined soil physicochemical properties in pure stands of the two species, and mixed stands incorporating study species with other common species, then evaluated the structure and diversity of bacterial communities using high-throughput sequencing. Our results showed that: (1) Rhizosphere soil properties of two afforestation species responded differently to various afforestation modes, the concentration of total nitrogen, total carbon and total phosphorus in S. chinensis rhizosphere soil was improved after mixing with broadleaved species, but available nutrients deficiency appeared in most mixed stands. (2) Bacterial diversity increased in mixed stands, especially for S. chinensis, as indicated by ACE and Chao1. The relative abundances of bacterial taxa varied greatly under different afforestation modes. Some taxa that contributed to organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling were enriched in S. chinensis mixed stands, for example MND1, uncultured_bacterium_f_Gemmatimonadaceae, and uncultured_bacterium_o_Rokubacteriales. RB41 and Bryobacter with such functions were enriched in A. vulgaris mixed stands. All of them were genera from the common bacterial phylum. (3) The concentration of total carbon, nitrate nitrogen, available phosphorus, pH, soil moisture content and total nitrogen could well explain the variations of soil bacterial community. Our results suggested that, mixing of different species helped trees to make full use of nutrients and increased soil bacterial diversity, but it also caused insufficient available nutrient reserves. To improve soil quality of Xiong’an Millennium Forest, develop its capacity in greening and carbon sequestration, we recommend planting more mixed plantations including both coniferous and broadleaf species, while looking for a suitable method to replenish soil nutrients, further optimizing tree growth conditions.
Robinia pseudoacacia L. (RP) restoration has increased vegetation cover in semi-arid regions on the Loess Plateau of China, but ecological problems have also occurred due to RP restoration, such as reduced soil moisture. Further, it is still uncertain how microbial diversity, composition and assembly processes change with RP restoration in semi-arid regions. Therefore, amplicon sequencing of small subunit ribosomal ribonucleic acid (16S rRNA) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) genes was performed to study soil bacterial and fungal diversity, composition and assembly processes at four study sites with different stand ages of RP plantations (Y10, RP plantation with stand ages less than 10 a; Y15, RP plantation with stand ages approximately 15 a; Y25, RP plantation with stand ages approximately 25 a; and Y40, RP plantation with stand ages approximately 40 a) along a 40-a chronosequence on the Loess Plateau. The diversity of soil bacteria and fungi increased significantly during the restoration period from 10 to 15 a (P<0.05). However, compared with Y15, bacterial diversity was lower at Y25 and Y40, and fungal diversity remained stable during the restoration period between 25 and 40 a. The relative abundances of Proteobacteria and Ascomycota increased during the restoration period from 10 to 15 a. Conversely, after 15 a of restoration, they both decreased, whereas the relative abundances of Actinomycetes, Acidobacteria and Basidiomycota gradually increased. The variations in soil bacterial communities were mainly related to changes in soil total nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and moisture contents, while soil fungal communities were mainly shaped by soil organic carbon and nitrate nitrogen contents. Bacterial communities were structured by the heterogeneous selection and stochastic process, while fungal communities were structured primarily by the stochastic process. The RP restoration induced an increase in the relative importance of heterogeneous selection on bacterial communities. Overall, this study reveals the changes in microbial diversity, community composition and assembly processes with RP restoration on the Loess Plateau and provides a new perspective on the effects of vegetation restoration on soil microbial communities in semi-arid regions.
Soil microbial spatial variation across forest types would obscure the huge impact of tree species on microbial community structure and function, and the underlying mechanisms of spatial pattern in the same tree forests was poorly described. We investigated the spatial variation and drivers of microbial communities in the topsoil (0–20 cm) of Robinia pseudoacacia forests at the regional scale on the Loess Plateau. Soil bacterial and fungal communities showed a significant distance decay pattern, and fungi exhibited a more apparent spatial pattern than bacteria. Microbial diversity (Shannon-Wiener and Chao1 indexes) and the relative abundance of Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Nitrospirae, Latescibacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Rozellomycota significantly differed among regions. Community dissimilarities of bacterial and fungal indicator species were sensitive to changes in mean annual temperature (MAT) and mean annual precipitation (MAP), respectively. However, the first axis of nonmetric multidimensional scaling (nMDS1) of soil bacterial and fungal communities were respectively associated with soil pH and MAP. The proportion of positive links of co-occurrence networks between microorganisms increased with the decrease in MAP, suggesting that the decrease in precipitation increases species coexistence. Soil bacterial and fungal community assemblies were both dominated by stochastic processes and were well predicted by the neutral community model. The effects of soil properties were larger on bacteria than fungi, and soil properties respectively explained 54.54% and 37.29% of the total variation in the bacterial and fungal community compositions. The major drivers of community dissimilarity varied between bacteria and fungi, indicating that bacterial community was mainly drove by soil pH, NH4⁺ and geographic distance and fungal community was mainly drove by MAP, pH and geographic distance. Our observations suggested that soil bacterial and fungal communities exhibited distance decay pattern in the Robinia pseudoacacia forests at the regional scale, and this pattern was primarily driven by soil pH and MAP.
Aims
Nitrogen (N) supply and precipitation pattern (amount and frequency) both affect plant growth. However, N deposition is increasing and precipitation regimes are changing in the context of global change. An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of precipitation pattern and N supplies on the growth of a widely distributed and planted N2-fixing alien species Robinia pseudoacacia.
Methods
Seedlings were grown in a glasshouse at four different N levels combined with different precipitation regimes, including three precipitation amounts, and two precipitation frequencies. After treatment for 75 days, plant height, biomass allocation, leaf and soil nutrient concentrations were measured.
Results
Plants under high precipitation frequency had greater biomass compared with plants lower precipitation frequency with the same amount of precipitation. Higher N supply decreased biomass allocation to nodules. Nodule growth and N2 fixation of R. pseudoacacia with low precipitation amount was more inhibited by high N deposition compared with plants received higher precipitation amount. Slightly N deposition under higher precipitation inhibited N2 fixation but did not fulfil the N need in plants.
Conclusions
Nitrogen deposition might inhibit N2 fixation of plants even in low level but low nitrogen in soil cannot fulfil the N need of plants, and caused N2 fixation limitation in plants during seedling stage. There was likely a shift from acquiring N mainly from N2 fixation to acquisition of N directly with root when N supply was increased. High N deposition level, and increased precipitation frequency might increase the invasion risk of R. pseudoacacia.
Invasive alien trees transform landscapes and subsequent ecosystem function. For grassland ecosystems, fragmentation following invasion by alien woody species is of concern. In this study, we examined how an invasive alien tree, Robinia pseudoacacia L. (Fabaceae) impacts grassland microclimates and the subsequent assemblages of endemic arthropods. The phenological trajectory of R. pseudoacacia, temperature and light intensity, as well as arthropod abundances in both invaded and uninvaded habitats, were monitored. Results showed that R. pseudoacacia significantly lowers average understory temperatures and light penetration in grassland ecosystems. Average temperatures were at least 2 °C lower in understory habitats than open grasslands while light intensity was lower by more than 1200 lumens/ft². In addition, arthropod communities differed between invaded and uninvaded habitats. The most affected taxa were Acridids from the order Orthoptera as they were excluded from understory habitats while Coleopterans were more abundant under R. pseudoacacia. Apart from absence of main host plants, invasion mediated differences in microenvironments appeared to be the main driver of this shift in affected arthropod taxa.
Implications for insect conservation
These results highlight the need to sustainably manage R. pseudoacacia invasions especially in grassland ecosystems. In addition to their conservation value due to their role in nutrient cycling, grassland arthropods also serve as important indicators of ecosystem health. Hence, they can be used to monitor ecosystem recovery post invasive alien tree management.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) contribute to the restoration of soil ecological functions and may facilitate the revegetation of degraded ecosystems by decreasing abiotic and biotic stresses on plants. The diversity and composition of AMF communities on the revegetation were assessed during an open-cast mining dump reclamation chronosequence of the soil at <1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years after reclamation began. Total glomalin (TG), easily extractable glomalin (EEG), soil pH, electrical conductivity, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (AP), and C:N:P stoichiometry were measured. Based on high-throughput sequence analysis on partial Glomeromycota 18S rRNA, 156 AMF operational taxonomic units were identified, which belonged to 12 genera and nine families. AMF diversity indices were significantly different between the community early in reclamation (<1 year) and later (P < 0.05), and were correlated with TN, AP, TG, N/P, C/P, EEG/SOC and TG/SOC ratios (P < 0.05). Network analysis and nonmetric multidimensional scaling analyses revealed that AMF community composition was significantly different early in the process of reclamation (<1 year) and at the end of reclamation (20 years) (P < 0.05), but were similar in the intermediate reclamation stages (5–15 years). Overall, the study suggests the rapid and stable re-establishment of a species-rich AMF community on a degraded ecosystem over time, following artificial re-vegetation.
Background: Robinia pseudoacacia is a widely planted pioneer tree species in reforestations on barren mountains in northern China. Because of its nitrogen-fixing ability, it can play a positive role in soil and forest restoration. After clear-cutting of planted stands, R. pseudoacacia stands become coppice plantations. The impacts of shifting from seedling to coppice plantations on soil bacterial community and soil properties have not been well described. This study aims to quantify how soil properties and bacterial community composition vary between planted seedling versus coppice stands.
Methods: Three 20 × 20 m plots were randomly selected in each seedling and coppice stand. The bulk soil and rhizosphere soil were sampled in the nine above-mentioned sample plots in the summer of 2017. Bulk soil was sampled at 10 cm from the soil surface using a soil auger. Rhizosphere soil samples were collected by brush. The soil samples were transported to the laboratory for chemical analysis and bacterial community composition and diversity was obtanied through DNA extraction, 16S rRNA gene amplification and high throughput sequencing.
Results: The results showed that, compared to seedling plantations, soil quality decreased significantly in coppice stands, but without affecting soil exchangeable Mg²⁺ and K²⁺. Total carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) were lower in the rhizosphere than in bulk soil, whereas nutrient availability showed an opposite trend. The conversion from seedling to coppice plantations was also related to significant differences in soil bacterial community structure and to the reduction of soil bacterial α-diversity. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that, bacterial community composition was similar in both bulk and rhizosphere soils in second generation coppice plantations. Specially, the conversion from seedling to coppice increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Rhizobium, but reduced that of Actinobacteria, which may result in a decline of soil nutrient availability. Mantel tests revealed that C, N, Soil organic matter (SOM), nitrate nitrogen (NO3⁻-N) and available phosphorus positively correlated with bacterial community composition, while a variation partition analysis (VPA) showed that NO3⁻-N explained a relatively greater proportion of bacterial distribution (15.12%), compared with C and SOM. Surprinsingly, N showed no relationship with bacterial community composition, which may be related to nitrogen transportation.
Conclusions: The conversion from seedling to coppice stands reduced soil quality and led to spatial-temporal homogenization of the soil bacterial community structure in both the rhizosphere and bulk soils. Such imbalance in microbial structure can accelerate the decline of R. pseudoacacia. This may affect the role of R. pseudoacacia coppice stands in soil and forest restoration of barren lands in mountain areas.
Global warming may influence the bioavailability and mobility of heavy metals by stimulating or inhibiting plant growth, thereby influencing rhizosphere soil chemistry and microbial characteristics. Black locust has been widely planted in China as a promising species for afforestation programs, farmland shelterbelt projects, and soil restoration in mined areas because of its rapid growth and adaptability to environmental stressors. Here, we examined soil bacterial community structure and predicted bacterial metabolic function in the rhizosphere of black locust exposed to elevated temperature (+1.99 °C) and Pb for 4 years. Elevated temperature significantly (p < 0.05) reduced total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), and total sulfur (TS) contents in above-ground parts but increased TC and TN contents in roots and seedling height under Pb exposure. Elevated temperature significantly (p < 0.05) increased Pb availability and raised pH, TC, TN, TS and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) contents, and the C:H ratio in rhizosphere soils under Pb exposure. The interactive effects between Pb and temperature on pH, TC, TH, TS, WSOC, and the C:H ratio were significant (p < 0.05). Elevated temperature significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the diversity and the richness of bacterial community, altered genus-level bacterial community composition, and improved (p < 0.05) the relative abundances of some bacteria involving in terpenoids and polyketides and xenobiotics biodegradation metabolism under Pb exposure. Canonical correspondence analysis indicated that pH, WSOC, C:N ratio, and soluble Pb were significant (p < 0.05) factors on the relative abundance of bacterial genera, such as Ochrobactrum and Sphingomnas. Overall, long-term elevated temperature resulted in changes in rhizosphere soil characteristics and Pb availability, thus affecting the bacterial community structure and metabolic functional groups. The conclusion helps us understand the response mechanism of soil bacteria in the rhizosphere to heavy metals under global warming scenarios.
Allelopathy may play an important role in the invasion success of adventive plant species. The aim of this study was to determine the allelopathic potential of invasive woody plant species occurring in Hungary. Juglone index of fourteen invasive woody plant species in Hungary was determined by the method of Szabó (1997), comparing the effects of juglone and substance extracted of plant species with unknown allelopathic potential on the germination rate, shoot length and rooth length of white mustard (Sinapis alba L.) used as receiver species. Results have proven a more or less expressed allelopathic potential in case of all species. The juglone index at higher concentration extracts (5 g dry plant material extracted with 100 ml distilled water) of almost every studied species approaches to 1 or is above 1, this means the effect of the extracts is similar to juglone or surpasses it. In terms of juglone index, the allelopathic potential of false indigo (Amorpha fruticosa L.), tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle) and hackberry (Celtis occidentalis L.) were the highest. Besides these species the treatment with the extracts of black walnut (Juglans nigra L.), black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.) and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica MARSH. var. subintegerrima (Vahl) Fern.) reduced extremely significantly the germination rate, shoot and root length, compared to the control.
Soil samples (from Czech and German long-term field experiments) were used to estimate different soil phosphorus (P) fractions. More than 200 topsoil (0-30 cm) samples from different fertilizing treatments were taken. These were analyzed for P in soil solution (P CaCl2) [0.01M CaCl 2 extract], exchangeable sorbed P (P gx) [anion exchange (AE) membranes] and bioavailable P [Doppel-Lactat and Mehlich 3 (P DL and P M3)]. Other fractions analyzed were total inorganic (P ta), total (P M.tot) and organic (P Qrg) P [fractionation after Marks], P sorbed on Fe and Al (P FeA1) [fractionation after Schwertmann] and residual P (P ar) [aqua regia extract]. Comparison of medians appeared to be better for evaluating extraction abilities. Phosphorus fractions were in the following order: (P ar = 100%); P CaCl2 (0.2%) < P ex (9%) < P DL (10%) < P M3 (16%) < P in (24%) < P org (37%) < P FeAl (55%) < P M-tot (59%)" Low amounts of P in, P org and P M-tot did not verify the applicability of the Marks' fractionation for the set of studied soils. Close correlations at P S 0.001 were found for all methods for estimating the fractions of bioavailable phosphates (P Caa2, P ex, P Dl and P M3) Statistically significant relations were observed between P jn with P ar, P M.tot and P FeAi.
The objective of this research was to study the distribution, share and influence of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) on the forest stands in northeast Slovenia. The analyses of data from Slovenian forest service data base showed that in forest management region of Murska Sobota highest black locust shares in growing stock are reached by the Mura river and on extensive Mura plain. The inventory of the regeneration made on 10 sampling plots with 30 small surfaces revealed a very aggressive regeneration of black locust in all three analysed management classes but most aggressively in the oak-hornbeam forests which are sometimes changed into pure black locust stands. IN SLOVENE, WITH ABSTRACT AND SUMMARY IN ENGLISH.
Occurrence of alien plant species in all the major habitats in the Czech Republic was analysed using a data set of 20,468 vegetation plots, classified into 32 habitats according to the EUNIS classification. The plots contain on average 9.0% archaeophytes and 2.3% neophytes; for neophytes, this proportion is much smaller than 26.8% reported for the total flora of the country. Most neophytes are found in a few habitats: only 5.6% of them were recorded in more than ten habitats. By contrast, archaeophytes, and especially native species, tend to occur in a broader range of habitats. Highest numbers of aliens were found on arable land, in annual synantropic vegetation, trampled habitats and anthropogenic tall-forb stands. These habitats contain on average 22-56% archaeophytes and 4.4-9.6% neophytes. Neophytes are also common in artificial broadleaved forestry plantations; they also tend to make up a high percentage of the cover in wet tall-forb stands, but are represented by fewer species there. Entirely or nearly free of aliens are plots located in raised bogs, alpine grasslands, alpine and subalpine scrub and natural coniferous woodlands. Correlations between the number of archaeophytes or neophytes and the number of native species, calculated with habitat mean values, were non-significant, but there was a positive correlation between the numbers of archaeophytes and neophytes. The ratio of archaeophytes to neophytes was high in semi-natural dry and mesic grasslands and low in disturbed habitats with woody vegetation, such as artificial broadleaved forestry plantations, forest clearings and riverine willow stands. When individual plots were compared separately within habitats, the relationships between the number of archaeophytes, neophytes and native species were mostly positive. This result does not support the hypothesis that species-rich communities are less invasible, at least at the scale of vegetation plots, i.e. 100-102 m2.
Background and aims
Invasion by N2-fixing species may alter biogeochemical processes. We hypothesized that the grade of invasion by the N2-fixer black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) could be related to the distribution and pools of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) along the profile of two Mediterranean mixed forests of stone pine (Pinus pinea L.) and holm oak (Quercus ilex L.).
Methods
A low-invaded (LIN) and a high-invaded (HIN) mixed forest were studied. We assessed: N concentration in green and in senescent leaves; C and N pools along the soil profile; seasonal changes of soluble C and N fractions, and microbial activity.
Results
Compared to coexisting holm oak and stone pine, black locust had higher N content in green and in senescent leaves. In the mineral soil: N stocks were similar in LIN and HIN; water soluble C and microbial activity, were lower in HIN compared to LIN; water soluble N showed seasonal changes consistent with tree growth activity in both HIN and LIN. In the organic layer of HIN, C and N stocks were about twofold larger than expected on the basis of stand density.
Conclusion
Black locust increased C and N stocks in the upper organic layers that are more vulnerable to disturbance. However, it did not increase N stocks in the mineral soil.
This study investigated the effects of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) plantations on surface soil properties in eroded sand loam (SL) soils. Two land use types were selected in the semi-humid region of Artvin, Turkey: a black locust plantation area (BLP) and an adjacent non-managed site (NMS) (control site). The study used a randomized complete block design with four replications in both experimental sites. Four disturbed and four undisturbed soil samples were randomly collected at a soil depth of 0–10 and 10–20 cm in each site. When compared to Non-Managed (NMS) Site, the soil bulk density (Db) decreased from 1.35 to 1.25 g cm− 3, permanent wilting point (PWP) decreased from 11.50 to 9.20 (% vol.), soil penetration resistance (SPR) decreased from 1.55 to 1.20 MPa; while total porosity (St) increased from 43.28 to 47.92 (%), soil organic matter (SOM) increased from 0.88 to 1.95 (%), P2O5 increased from 8.50 to 12.77 ppm, Ca increased from 18.07 to 21.90 (me/100gr) at 0 to 10 cm soil depth in black locust plantation (BLP) site. Total porosity (St), field capacity (FC), plant available water (PAW), saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat), soil organic matter (%), soil organic carbon (%), total nitrogen (T-N), P2O5, Ca, Mg, and K were found to be significantly greater at the BLP site when compared to the control site; while bulk density (Db), permanent wilting point (PWP), soil penetration resistance (SPR) were found to be significantly lower at a soil depth of 0 to 10 cm. Mean St, plant available water (PAW), saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat), soil organic matter (SOM), soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen, P2O5 and Ca were found to decrease significantly; while clay, Db and SPR were found to increase significantly with soil depth at both the NMS and BLP sites. The highest carbon sequestration was measured at a soil depth of 0–10 cm in the BLP site. The black locust plantation (BLP) had a positive impact on surface soil properties and carbon sequestration in eroded lower hillslopes in the semi-humid region of Coruh Drainage Basin (CDB) in Turkey. The planting of black locust might be useful in soil reclamation projects in this type of eroded sites in semi-humid regions.
The invasiveness of Robinia pseudoacacia, one of the most invasive alien tree species in the agricultural landscapes of Central Europe, was studied in relation to its colonization of various soil and habitat types. The study area was a traditional agricultural landscape in Goričko Landscape Park (Slovenia), a hilly region, where half the territory is covered by forests and where R. pseudoacacia is also common. Habitat mapping in the field with a resolution of two meters was applied and further elaborated in GIS. It revealed 1307 patches colonized by R. pseudoacacia and belonging to 11 habitat types, covering 0.6% of the total study area. The most widespread were pure R. pseudoacacia stands, representing 69% of the total patch area. R. pseudoacacia is also abundantly present in small woodlots (19%) and in lowland and collinar riverine willow scrub (6%). The patches vary little in fractal dimension; the elongation index is highest in lowland and collinar riverine willow scrub, stream ash-alder woods and mixed stands. The most frequently invadedsoil is pseudogley, with more than 38% of the total surface, followed by 21% for fluvisol and 17% for eutric cambisol. We confirmed that distance from nearest woodland is important, since almost 32% of the invaded patches are found at a distance of 1–100 meters from closed woodland.
Production ecology and nutrient budgets Faecal analysis and exclosure studies Water relations and stress Mineral nutrition Site and soils Chemical analysis Data analysis Plant population biology Description and analysis of vegetation Site history.
Mehlich II (MII) extractant was introduced in 1978 and it has been used for soil testing in the Czech Republic for more than ten years. Mehlich III (MIII) extractant as a modification of MII extractant was introduced in 1981. The modification enabled determination of copper and minimized corrosive properties of the former MII extractant. MIII became very popular and widely used and replaced MIII very quickly. The objective of this study was to compare MII and MIII extractants to determine available phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and calcium in Czech agricultural soils. 2799 agricultural soils were collected for the study (311 light soils, 1889 medium soils, 599 heavy soils, 369 soils with carbonate content higher than 5%). The soil samples represented all major soil types, climatic regions and proportion of agronomic cultures in the Czech Republic. Samples were air dried and a fraction under 2 mm in diameter was used for analysis. The quantity of phosphorus extracted by MIII exceeded that extracted by MII 20 to 25%. Extractions of both magnesium and calcium by MIII were 7 to 9% higher than those by MII and extractions of potassium were 10% higher. Regression analysis was performed after rejection of outliers. Highly significant correlations were found between the methods for all the elements and soil types. Regression coefficients ranged between 0.97 and 0.99. The values measured by MIII were compared by pair-test to the values calculated from the values measured by MII using the conversion equations. For all the elements and soil types the pair test showed that the measured and the calculated values were highly significantly equal and that the conversion equations are reliable and suitable for recalculating of the values of nutrient contents categories. Conversion equations can be used instead of a new expensive and time-consuming field calibrating study.
During the years 1999-2000 a detailed production-ecological research of black locust cultural forest communities in the locality of protected landscape arcs Zahoric was performed. We search three forest comminities: Chelidonio-Robinietum, Arrhenathero elatius-Robinietum and Bromo sterilis-Robinietum. The contribution is dealing whith preliminary results of production ecological and soil analysis mentioned communities.
Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.), a nitrogen-fixing tree species introduced to northern Indiana, is invading disturbed and native communities of the Indiana Dunes. This study investigated three Quercus velutina (black oak) savanna and woodland dune communities to determine the effects of black locust on species diversity and composition. Data revealed that the mean plot basal area and density of black locust were highest in plots containing older black locusts and decreased in outlying plots where the saplings often occurred in ramets. The lowest densities of black locust saplings existed under the oldest trees. At all sites the herbaceous species diversity was lowest in the older black locust stands and higher in the younger stands. Downy brome grass (Bromus tectorum L.), a nonindigenous grass species, was dominant under older black locust trees and decreased in mean cover toward the younger stands. In a black oak savanna, soils of the oldest black locust trees had higher concentrations of nitrate (3.3 ± SE 0.3 ppm) and ammonium (4.2 ± SE 0.7 ppm) than the control soils (nitrate 1.4 ± SE 0.1 ppm, ammonium 2.8 ± SE 0.25 ppm). The results suggest that (1) black locust tree shade significantly reduced the natural diversity of herbaceous species at these sites, and (2) increased soil nitrogen produced by black locust facilitates dominance by the nitrogen-responsive downy brome. Implications for management are discussed.
In the area of Durdevački pijesci (Northern Croatia), at the end of 19 th ct, forestation with the Scotch and Austrian pine has been carried out; later on it has been performed with the black Locust as well, the aim of which was to calm the active sands down and to stop the "Croatian desert" to spread, together with improving of the ecological life conditions. After about 100 years, this work analyses the forest vegetation influence on some soil characteristics and crop productivity. The investigated vegetation spread in an area of forest community of Pedunc