Long-term hydrological and biogeochemical datasets from a Mediterranean
forest site (Montseny, NE Spain)
Abstract
In humid regions, the chemical flux and cycling of elements is
intimately linked to the hydrologic cycle. This insight opened in the
late s. XX a worldwide avenue for the use of small watersheds as
ecological units to study the hydrological and biogeochemical
functioning of ecosystems at the small catchment scale. The Montseny
catchment research, starting in 1978, initially addressed the forest
response to acid rain. But continuous recording for about 4 decades in
two small catchments allowed to describe the changes in streamwater
chemistry related to changes in atmospheric deposition (with particular
emphasis to S, N and P deposition), to climate change and to the inputs
of African dust. Further research and new hypothesis testing may take
advantage of the collected data series in these long-term study sites at
a Mediterranean site. This is the motivation for the publication of the
quality-checked original stream and atmospheric deposition chemistry
files whose links accompany this paper.