Date and time: 27th January 2025; 13:00 – 13:45 AM (CET) –Nineteenth webinar: Study on the influence of pollen on nitrogen wet deposition
The CLEANFOREST webinar series is hosted by the COST Action’s Young Researchers community for all interested researchers and practitioners usually during the second and fourth week of every month. We are honored to announce that for the Nineteenth event in the series, we will be joined by Ivan Limić from the Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation, Split, Croatia, one of the CLEANFOREST STSM Grantees. A short summary of his talk is given below.
My Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) was conducted in collaboration with the Research Institute for Nature and Forests (INBO) in Geraardsbergen, Belgium, and the Isotope Bioscience Laboratory – ISOFYS, Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Belgium, in the framework of WG1 of the CLEANFOREST Action. I investigated nitrogen cycling in forest ecosystems, with a focus on the role of pollen in nitrogen transformations. In addition, I sought to determine whether there were differences between broadleaves (alder, oak, beech, birch) and conifers (pine, spruce) in this process. I gained hands-on experience collecting bulk precipitation, throughfall, stemflow, and soil solution samples from ICP Forests Level II plots. I conducted a laboratory experiment to assess the biochemical activity of pollen and its effects on nitrogen compounds in precipitation. Experiments were carried out under non-sterilized conditions and two different sterilization treatments using thymol and a mixture of penicillin, streptomycin, and amphotericin B. Water samples were collected on a daily basis for one week and analyzed for nitrate (NO3⁻), nitrite (NO2⁻), ammonia (NH4⁺) and total nitrogen (TN) from which dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) was calculated. Furthermore, I refined filtration methods for pollen samples, preparing them for analysis of NH4⁺, TN, and 15N used as a tracer. Gas samples were analyzed to determine the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitric oxide (NO), and nitrogen gas (N2). Control experiments were conducted to test various sterilization techniques, helping identify the most effective approach.
Expanding the experimental scope provided deeper insights into nitrogen release, uptake, and transformations when precipitation passes through the forest canopy, revealing important interactions between pollen and microorganisms. This research introduces new methods to study the nitrogen cycle and emphasizes the need for further experiments to clarify the role of pollen and associated microorganisms in nitrogen transformation. This joint effort provides a solid foundation to advance research and promote further collaboration in forest ecology.
Deadline: please sign up via the registration link above BEFORE the webinar.
Contact:
- Presenter: Ivan Limić (Ivan.Limic@krs.hr)
- Webinar co-convenor: Klaudia Ziemblinska (klaudiaziem@wp.pl)
- Webinar convenor: Andrei Popa (popa.andrei.dorna@gmail.com)
