Veluwe gets tens of thousands of young trees to test acidified soil |  Sciences

Veluwe gets tens of thousands of young trees to test acidified soil | Sciences

Researchers will plant 42,300 young trees in De Hoge Veluwe National Park this month. They add healthy soil from other forests to check if the acidified forest floor can still be recovered in the Veluwe.

Due to nitrogen deposition and climate change, trees in the national park grow less and soil life deteriorates rapidly. According to researchers from Wageningen University and the NIOO-KNAW Environmental Research and Research Institute, soil is “a complex ecosystem: in a teaspoon of soil there are more than five thousand species of bacteria, fungi and organisms.”

In a number of places, the researchers will now be adding healthy soil from other forests to the acidic De Hoge Veluwe. After two to four years it will be clear whether the filoy soil has improved as a result of this type of intervention. Researchers are also checking whether young trees grow better.

The researchers also sprinkle rock flour in a number of places to prevent nitrogen deposition. Research into the impact of rock dust is already underway at several sites in Veloy. In other places, foragers use a mixture of rock flour and substrate from other places, and in other places they do nothing at all.

Only native tree species are planted for research, such as hazel, oak, birch, and aspen. Because big game loves saplings, the researchers put a net around each research area, park management says.

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