Horizons and humus forms in beech forests of the Belgian Ardennes

International audience ; Forest soil organic horizons are named on the basis of visual observations made directly in the field, thus this is often subjective. To find more objective bases for their classification, humus form horizons in 13 beech stands (Fagus sylvatica Ehrh,) were compared. Test sites were located in the Belgian Ardennes (western Europe), which encompasses a wide range of ecological conditions. I used a semiquantitative micromorphological method for the description of horizons, and a multivariate method for data analysis. These methods helped to discern objective discontinuiti... Mehr ...