The Biosphere Reserve Wienerwald is one of the biggest continuous areas of deciduous forest in Central Europe. During the years 2009 through 2012 a soil survey was performed on 488 plots mainly focusing on the core zones. It consisted of a simplified profile description, photographic documentation and sampling of genetic mineral soil horizons.
As one example for the broad applicability of the obtained data, two plots were selected and used to generate a simple water balance for 3 different temperature scenarios. The available water storage capacity of the soil was estimated using density of dry fine soil, texture class, content of organic carbon and coarse material content. The potential evapotranspiration was calculated with the help of temperature and location. Furthermore it was assumed that there will be no change of the precipitation regime in the future.
It became apparent that an increase of already +3°C compared with present climate conditions partly results in a complete depletion of the plant available water reservoir during the summer and autumn months. If additionally the annual distribution of precipitation will shift towards the winter half-year, as expected in literature, the possible impact may be even worse. soil survey, monitoring, Biosphärenpark Wienerwald, available water storage capacity, potential evapotranspiration, water balance
