Unfavourable soil conditions frequently limit tree regeneration in mountain forests on calcareous bedrock. Rocky, shallow organic soils on dolomite pose a particular problem for tree regeneration due to commonly restricted water and nutrient supplies. Moreover, an often dense layer of understorey vegetation competes for the limited resources available. Hence, an array of interacting factors imp...

The drought- and thermo-tolerant Quercus pubescens, a tree species growing on both acidic and calcareous soils in the sub-Mediterranean region, was exposed to soil drought (-60% to -80% soil water content) and air warming (+1.2 °C daytime temperature), singly and in combination. The experiment was conducted on two natural forest soils with similar texture but different pH (acidic and calcareous...

Growth performance and heavy metal uptake by willow (Salix viminalis) from strongly and moderately polluted calcareous soils were investigated in field and growth chamber trials to assess the suitability of willow for phytoremediation. Field uptakes were 2-10 times higher than growth chamber uptakes. Despite high concentrations of cadmium (>/=80 mg/kg) and zinc (>/=3000 mg/kg) in leaves of will...

A procedure to determine the exchanger-phase composition (and thus the Na/Ca selectivity) of calcareous and gypsiferous soils was developed and tested on three soils and three phyllosilicate minerals. The procedure corrects for anion exclusion and mineral weathering by measuring the Cl, SO,,, and HCO3 in the soil solution and in the extracting solution. Anion exclusion was found to be significa...

abstract rhizosphere is a small zone with chemical, physical, and biological properties different from those of the bulk soil. information regarding the kinetics of cu release in the rhizosphere soil is scant. throughout this research, kinetics of cu release was investigated in wheat crop rhizosphere vs. non-rhizosphere in 10 calcareous soils by use of rhizobox and in greenhouse conditions. ext...