Qualitative and Quantitative Changes in Soil Organic Compounds in Central European Oak Forests with Different Annual Average Precipitation
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Published:2023-03-07
Issue:3
Volume:10
Page:48
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ISSN:2076-3298
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Container-title:Environments
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language:en
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Short-container-title:Environments
Author:
Fekete István1, Francioso Ornella2ORCID, Simpson Myrna J.3ORCID, Gioacchini Paola2, Montecchio Daniela2, Berki Imre4, Móricz Norbert4ORCID, Juhos Katalin5, Béni Áron6ORCID, Kotroczó Zsolt5ORCID
Affiliation:
1. Institute of Environmental Science, University of Nyíregyháza, 4400 Nyíregyháza, Hungary 2. Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy 3. Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada 4. Institute of Environmental and Earth Sciences, University of Sopron, 9400 Sopron, Hungary 5. Department of Agro-Environmental Studies, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 1118 Budapest, Hungary 6. Institute of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Abstract
The various climate scenarios consistently predict warming and drying of forests in Hungary. Soils play a significant role in the long-term sequestration of atmospheric CO2, while in other cases they can also become net carbon emitters. Therefore, it is important to know what can be expected regarding future changes in the carbon storage capacity of soils in forests. We used precipitation gradient studies to solve this problem, using a type of “space–time” substitution. In this research, we primarily examined the quality parameters of soil organic matter (SOM) to investigate how climate change transforms the ratio of the main SOM compound groups in soils. For our studies, we applied elemental and 13C and 15N isotopic ratio analysis, NMR analysis, FT-IR spectra analysis, thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses to measure SOM chemistry in samples from different oak forests with contrasting mean annual precipitation from Central Europe. Our results showed that soil organic carbon (SOC) was lower in soils of humid forests due to the enhanced decomposition processes and the leaching of Ca, which stabilizes SOM; however, in particular, the amount of easily degradable SOM compounds (e.g., thermolabile SOM, O-alkyl carbon, carboxylic and carbonyl carbon) decreased. In dry forest soils, the amount of recalcitrant SOM (e.g., thermostable SOM, alkyl carbon, aromatic and phenolic carbon and organo–mineral complexes stabilized by Ca increased, but the amount of easily degradable SOM increased further. The main conclusion of our study is that SOC can increase in forests that become drier, compensating somewhat for the decrease in forest plant biomass.
Funder
Scientific Council of the University of Nyíregyháza
Subject
General Environmental Science,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Reference71 articles.
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