Characterization of soil organic matter in perhumid natural cypress forest: comparison of humification in different particle-size fractions
Open Access
- 15 November 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Botanical Studies
- Vol. 54 (1), 56
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1999-3110-54-56
Abstract
The Chamaecyparis forest is a valuable natural resource in eastern Asia. The characteristics of soil humic substances and the influence of environmental factors in natural Chamaecyparis forests in subtropical mountain regions are poorly understood. The study site of a perhumid Chamaecyparis forest is in the Yuanyang Lake Preserved Area in northcentral Taiwan. We collected samples from organic horizons (Oi, Oe and Oa) and from the surface horizon (O/A horizon) at the summit, footslope and lakeshore to characterize the composition of the soil organic matter. Samples of organic horizons were dried and ground, and those of the O/A horizon were passed through wet sieving for different particle-size fractions before analysis. The C chemical structure in the samples was determined with CP/MAS 13C NMR spectra. The ratios of alkyl-C/O-alkyl-C and aromaticity increased with decomposition of litter from the Oi, Oe, to Oa horizon. The ratio of alkyl-C/O-alkyl-C also increased from coarse (> 250 μm) to very fine (< 2 μm) particle fractions, which indicates increased humification of soil organic matter (SOM) in the fine-sized fractions. However, aromaticity tended to decrease with decreasing particle size, so it may not be useful in evaluating SOM humification of different particle-size fractions. The humification degree of the samples from O horizons and different particle-size fractions of the O/A horizon showed no gradient change with change in topography. This prevalent slow decomposition of organic matter in these perhumid climate conditions may narrow the difference in humification from the summit to lakeshore.Keywords
This publication has 42 references indexed in Scilit:
- Climate and parent material controls on organic matter storage in surface soils: A three-pool, density-separation approachGeoderma, 2008
- Effects of thinning on leaf-fall and leaf-litter nitrogen concentration in hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa Endlicher) plantation stands in JapanForest Ecology and Management, 2008
- Soil development along an altitudinal transect in a Bolivian tropical montane rainforest: Podzolization vs. hydromorphyCATENA, 2007
- Humic acids from hydromorphic soils of the upper Negro river basin, Amazonas: Chemical and spectroscopic characterisationGeoderma, 2007
- Clay mineralogical characterization of a toposequence of perhumid subalpine forest soils in northeastern TaiwanGeoderma, 2007
- Chemical–structural information from solid-state 13C NMR studies of a suite of humic materials from a lower montane forest soil, Colorado, USAGeoderma, 2006
- Characterization of soil organic matter in different particle-size fractions in humid subalpine soils by CP/MAS 13C NMRGeoderma, 2003
- Characterization of organic matter in a northern hardwood forest soil by 13C NMR spectroscopy and chemical methodsGeoderma, 2003
- Spectral features of humic substances in a perhumid subtropical montane forest ecosystem, TaiwanSoil Science and Plant Nutrition, 2001
- Effect of topography on the composition of soil organic substances in a perhumid sub-tropical montane forest ecosystem in TaiwanGeoderma, 2000