Vegetation Effects on Soil Organic Matter Chemistry of Aggregate Fractions in a Hawaiian Forest

• Published in: Ecosystems (New York) Vol. 14; no. 3; pp. 382 - 397
• Main Authors: Stewart, Catherine E, Neff, Jason C, Amatangelo, Kathryn L, Vitousek, Peter M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer-Verlag 01.04.2011; Springer Science+Business Media; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acid soils; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Biomarkers; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Carbon content; Cheirodendron; Cheirodendron trigynum; Chemical properties; Chemistry; chromatography; cutin; Decomposition; derivatization; Dicranopteris; Dicranopteris linearis; Ecology; Environmental Management; Forest soils; Forestry; forests; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gas chromatography; General aspects; General forest ecology; Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology; Geochemistry; Geoecology/Natural Processes; Hydrology/Water Resources; inheritance (genetics); Leaves; Life Sciences; Lignin; Lipids; Litter; Mass spectrometry; Microorganisms; Organic matter; Organic soils; physicochemical properties; plant biochemistry; plant litter; Plant Sciences; Plant tissues; Plants; Polysaccharides; Pyrolysis; rooting; Saccharides; Soil aggregates; Soil biochemistry; Soil chemistry; Soil organic matter; Soil structure; Soils; suberin; Synecology; Vegetation; Vegetation effects; Zoology; Hawaii; Polynesia; Oceania; soil organic chemistry; fern; Hawaii; soil organic carbon; decomposition; pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry; soil organic matter; Soil chemistry; Organic carbon; Pyrolysis; Forests; Organic matter; Decomposition; Vegetation effect; Pteridophyta; Organic chemistry; Gas chromatography; Soils; Ecosystem; Aggregate; Mass spectrometry
• ISSN: 1432-9840; 1435-0629
• DOI: 10.1007/s10021-011-9417-y

We examined chemical changes from leaf tissue to soil organic matter (SOM) to determine the persistence of plant chemistry into soil aggregate fractions. We characterized a slow (Dicranopteris linearis) and fast-decomposing species (Cheirodendron trigynum) and surface (O), and subsurface (A-horizon) SOM beneath each species using pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (py-GC/MS), with and without derivatization. The live tissues of Dicranopteris had greater lignin content whereas Cheirodendron had a greater lipid, N-bearing, and polysaccharide component. Despite this difference in leaf chemistry, SOM chemistry was similar between soil aggregate fractions, but different between horizons. The O-horizon contained primarily lignin and polysaccharide biomarkers whereas the A-horizon contained polysaccharide, aromatic, and N-derived compounds, indicating considerable microbial processing of plant litter. The soils beneath Cheirodendron inherited a greater lipid signal composed of cutin and suberin biomarkers whereas the soils beneath Dicranopteris contained greater aromatic biomarker content, possibly derived from plant lignins. The soils beneath both species were more similar to root polysaccharides, lipids, and lignins than aboveground tissue. This study indicates that although plant-derived OM is processed vigorously, species-specific biomarkers and compound class differences persist into these soils and that differences in plant chemical properties may influence soil development even after considerable reworking of plant litter by microorganisms.