The Britz intensive monitoring site near Eberswalde has been used for almost 50 years to quantify the water consumption of growing main tree species in pure and mixed stands and their influence on groundwater recharge and the landscape water balance. Their location is representative for large parts of the north-eastern German lowlands.

In 1972, nine large lysimeters were constructed with a surface area of 100 m2 (10x10 m) and a depth of 5 m, as required for forest lysimeters. In 1974, these lysimeters, together with a 0.3 ha surrounding area, were planted with the tree species beech (2 lysimeters), pine (3 lysimeters), larch and Douglas fir (2 lysimeters each) in standard associations.

In addition to the lysimeters, the station is equipped with other devices for recording water and material flow, which are correlated with meteorological parameters and growth surveys of the most important above-ground tree compartments. The processes are examined at plot level and transferred to the stand level via quantified structure-process relationships. The results are important for forest conversion in the context of future-oriented forest management, taking into account the water management services of forests. A further focus is on investigations into the effects of drought on the growth and water balance of trees.

Further information on the Britz intensive monitoring area can be found in our app:

Thünen-Institute of Forest Eccosystems / App Britz intensive monitoring area

In the past few month it has not only felt like a lot of rain - this winter has set a new  record : For 30 years precipitation and infiltration have been measured on the forest hydrological test area Britz near Eberswalde, among other parameters. With 311 millimeters (mm) of rain and snow measured, there was more water than ever before since the beginning of the time series. The amount of precipitation is good news for the upcoming growing season. This is because winter precipitation is important for moisting the soil and creates good starting conditions for the plants to sprout in spring.

Between February 17th and 19th, 2022, stormy conditions also prevailed in northeastern Germany due to the passage of the storms “Ylenia” and “Zeynep”. With comparatively low wind speeds with peaks between 80 and 90km/h, the two storms hit the Britz intensive monitoring area and caused storm damage to several trees there. These affect both the approximately 50-year-old Douglas fir and pine trees, as well as older pine trees in the buffer area of ​​the lysimeter station. They include different forms of damage. Several trees were uprooted and both trunks were broken at breast height and crowns were broken. Among the trees affected are measurement trees that were equipped with, among other things, dendrometers for girth measurement. Just a few weeks earlier, the trees at the test station had to withstand the storm “Nadia”. At that time, only a few Douglas firs fell victim to the storm.

In the “WinMol” project we dealt with storm damage, further information can be found here:

Project page “WinMol”