Abstract

BackgroundThe 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.ResultsThe 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.ConclusionsThe 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.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1999-3110-54-56) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

  • The Chamaecyparis forest is a valuable natural resource in eastern Asia

  • We aimed to clarify the differences in organic matter composition in various particle-size fractions as affected by topography in a Chamaecyparis forest

  • High percentages (61% to 83%) of samples were in the coarse fraction with decomposing plant residues (Table 4), which suggests the retardation of organic matter decomposition in such perhumid climate conditions

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Summary

Introduction

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. 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. Humus substances are the most recalcitrant and major fraction of soil organic matter (SOM). The humus in soils has beneficial effects on plant nutrient supply, soil structure and water-holding capacity. Chamaecyparis cypress forest is a valuable natural resource in eastern Asia for its high-quality timber. The accumulation of non-decomposed organic matter on the forest floor provides a critical buffer to retain water

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