Atmospheric deposition and critical loads in a climax oak forest in the Štiavnické vrchy Mts

Abstract

Air pollutants have been for decades subjected to scientific research - due to their worldwide impact on the people's health and natural environment. We sampled vertical precipitation in an oak forest ecosystem at the locality Skalie in the Štiavnické vrchy Mts. The obtained samples partially represent the atmospheric deposition - the process of accumulation of air pollutants on the ground surface. These samples were evaluated from the viewpoint of acid rain. In accordance with the assumption, there have been found apparent differences in annual concentrations of chemical components and elements between the rain water having passed through tree crowns (throughfall) or forest edges and the open area. The sulphates ranged from 3.8 in the open area to 18.2 mg l-1 in the forest gap. In case of nitrogen, the values of atmospheric deposition ranged from 13.8 kg ha-1 yr -1 in the forest gap to 23 kg ha-1 yr-1 under the oak crowns, in case of sulphur we obtained 7.7 in the open area and 23.8 kg ha-1 yr-1 in the forest gap. Comparing the calculated deposition loads with the critical loads, we did not observe exceeding of limits.