Technodiversity Glossary

See natural regeneration of soil

See natural regeneration of soil

Any compaction of a soil can be recovered by physical power (like frost or mechanical lifting) or by biological activities (roots, micro-organisms, worms…). Biological activities get their power by life processes that depend on breathing. Due to this reason, the measurement of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the pores is a valid indicator for biological actions.

In biologically active soils the percentage (on volume) of CO₂ is about 0,3%, a bit higher than in the outside air.

Directly after traffic we observe a quick increment of CO₂ in the soil pores.But after a couple of hours the percentage of CO₂ can go down again. We believe that in this case the pores in the soil are opened again by biological activities from all directions.Thus, though the specific soil pressure may be high, when the affected volume of soil is small and the lateral area is large as we have it with human footprints or animal steps, then recovery happens very quickly.

When a light tractor (< 5 t) drives on the soil, the impact is higher. For the first few months, the percentage of CO₂ is significantly higher, but there is a tendency to recovering during the first year. Of course, much depends on the gross weight of the tractor, the number of passes, the soil type, the moisture… so, driving with tractors seems to approach the limits.

When a harvester, which has a gross weight > 15 tons, drives on the soil, the impact is so high, that the percentage of CO₂ increases in the first few months and may exceed the 1,0 %_vol threshold. Over several years there is no clear tendency towards recovery.

This tendency gets clear as soon as heavy forest machines drive on the soil several times. Here the soil shows no tendency for recovery.

(See more at PR1-D02)

On the normative level of decision-making, persons like the owner of the company, the forest owner or in case of a state forest the parliament defines the objectives of all actions. Since in most cases there are more than one objective, collaborators need a guideline how to deal with competing or contradicting objectives. Very often a general guideline is given for external advertisement as well as for the internal communication, where this guideline allows all decision-makers in the company to streamline their decisions with the wishes of the top-management.

(see more in TDiv PR1-A05)