Some Effects of the Plantation of Conifers on a Freely Drained Lowland Soil, Forest of Dean, U.K.

Acid brown soils under 50-year-old conifer plantations are comparedwith those at a control site under the previous vegetation ofmixed deciduous woodland. The soils under the conifers showsignificant signs of podzolization and associated with this,evidence of structural breakdown. The implications of thesechanges are briefly discussed.