Seasonal controls override forest harvesting effects on the composition of dissolved organic matter mobilized from boreal forest soil organic horizons

Abstract

Abstract. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) mobilized from the organic (O) horizons of forest soils is a temporally dynamic flux of carbon (C) and nutrients, and the fate of this DOM in downstream pools is dependent on the rate and pathways of water flow as well as its chemical composition. Here, we present observations of the composition of DOM mobilized weekly to monthly from O horizons in mature forest and adjacent harvested treatment plots. The study site was experimentally harvested, without replanting, 10-years prior to this study. Thus, the treatments differ significantly in terms of forest stand and soil properties, and they interact differently with the regional hydrometeorological conditions. This presented an opportunity to investigate the role of forest structure relative to environmental variation on soil DOM mobilization. On an annual basis, fluxes of total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) were largest from the warmer and thinner O horizons of the harvested (H) treatment compared to the forest (F) treatment; however, neither phosphate nor ammonium fluxes differed by treatment type. On a short-term basis in both H and F treatments, all fluxes were positively correlated to water input, and all concentrations were positively correlated to soil temperature and negatively correlated to water input. Soil moisture was negatively correlated to the C : N of DOM. These results suggest common seasonal controls on DOM mobilization regardless of harvesting treatment. Optical characterization of seasonally representative samples additionally supported a stronger control of season over harvesting. The chemical character of DOM mobilized during winter and snowmelt: lower C : N, higher specific ultraviolet absorbance and lower molecular weight of chromophoric DOM (CDOM; higher spectral slope ratio) were representative of relatively more decomposed DOM compared to that mobilized in summer and autumn. This shows that the decomposition of soil organic matter underneath a consistently deep snowpack is a key determinant of the composition of DOM mobilized from O horizons during winter and the hydrologically significant snowmelt period regardless of harvesting impact. Despite the higher proportion of aromatic DOM in the snowmelt samples, its lower molecular weight and rapid delivery from O to mineral horizons suggests that the snowmelt period is not likely to be a significant period of DOM sequestration by mineral soil. Rather, the higher-molecular-weight, high-C : N DOM mobilized during slow and relatively infrequent delivery during summer and rapid, frequent delivery during autumn are more likely to support periods of mineral soil sequestration and increased export of fresher terrestrial DOM, respectively. These observed seasonal dynamics in O horizon DOM suggest the predicted decreases in winter and spring snowfall and increasing autumn and winter rainfall with climate warming in this region will enhance mobilization of DOM that is more reactive to mineral interactions in deeper soil, but also more biological and photoreactive in the aquatic environment. Understanding the downstream consequences of this mobilized DOM in response to these shifts in precipitation timing and form can improve our ability to predict and manage forest C balance but requires understanding the response of landscape hydrology to these changing precipitation regimes.