Journal
PLANT AND SOIL
Volume 373, Issue 1-2, Pages 787-798Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s11104-013-1837-3
Keywords
Litter decomposition; DOC; DON; XAD; Ultrafiltration; Tree species
Categories
Funding
- Academy of Finland
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We characterized dissolved organic matter (DOM) leached during decomposition of deciduous silver birch litter (Betula pendula Roth.), coniferous Norway spruce litter (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and a mixture of these litters in order to find out whether the properties of DOM would explain the earlier observed signs for higher microbial activity in soil under birch than spruce. DOM leached from decomposing litters was collected in a litter-column experiment in the laboratory. Adsorption properties (XAD-8 resin fractionation) and molecular weight as well as the degradability of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) were measured three times during decomposition: 1) in the early stages, 2) after the mass loss reached 20-30 % and 3) when the mass loss reached 30-40 %. The leaching of DOC hydrophilic neutrals and bases, regarded easily degradable, decreased during decomposition. The leaching of DOC in hydrophobic acids, regarded refractory, increased from spruce and especially from the mixture litter during decomposition and may be connected to the degree of litter decomposition that was highest for the mixture. Unexpectedly, the degradability of DOC differed only slightly between the litters but the degradability of DON was substantially higher for spruce than birch. Spruce DOM seemed to be more N-rich than birch DOM in the early stages of decomposition and it seemed that labile DON was mobilized earlier from spruce than birch litter. We conclude that the decomposition degree of litter determines largely the properties of DOM. The observed differences in the properties of DOM sampled during the litter decomposition cannot explain differences in C and N cycling between birch and spruce.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available