Working title:

Impact of Climate Change on Soil Sensitivity to Driving Damage in Regeneration Areas and possible Consequences for Water Flow and Solute Transport

Project description summary

The aim of the first two parts is to evaluate how climate change affects soil hydrological factors of high importance for the sensitivity to driving damage in forest regeneration areas in the boreal zone. Focus will be on how soil physical conditions will be affected by climate change and climate variability. The main variables to be studied are:  i) frost duration and depth, ii) frequency of thawing/freezing cycles, iii) soil water tension regimes and iv) changes in size of temporary discharge areas (i.e. dynamics of ground water depth) along a hill slope. The third part deals with potential soil compaction and how it influences water flow and solute transport along a hill slope in a forest regeneration area and the last part includes assessment of impact of driving damage on water flow and solute transport in forest regeneration areas at catchment scale for climate change scenarios.

Three dynamical models will be used; the one-dimensional biogeophysical ecosystem model called CoupModel, the two-dimensional water flow- and solute transport model called Hydrus-2D and the two-dimensional catchment model FEMMA. Existing data from regeneration areas at the experimental sites of Balsjö, Hagfors, and possibly Strömsjöliden will be used for calibration and validation of the models.

Group of Supervisors:

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Annemieke Gärdenäs (main supervisor), dept of Soil and Environment, SLU
Dr.Eva Ring, Researcher, Nature and Environment, Skogforsk
Prof. Dr.Kevin Bishop, dept of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, SLU
Prof. Dr. Per-Erik Jansson, dept of Land and Water Resources Engineering, KTH
Prof. Dr.Iwan Wästerlund, dept of Forest Resource Management, SLU

Publications:

L. Hansson 2006, Comparisons of Infiltration Capacities in Different Parklands and Farming Systems of Semi-Arid Burkina Faso, Graduate Thesis in Soil Science, Dept of Forest Ecology, SLU, ISSN 1104-1870