Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Degradability of soils under oak and pine in Central Spain

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
European Journal of Forest Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study the influence of the vegetation on the soil C pool of forests of pines (Pinus sylvestris) and oaks (Quercus pyrenaica), located in Central-Western Spain. Horizons from selected soils located in these forests were sampled, and the soil organic C (SOC) was determined. In addition, in vitro incubation experiments were carried out, under controlled conditions, to monitor the stability of SOC against the microbial activity. Soil humus fractions were isolated following a classical procedure of chemical fractionation using alkaline solutions, before and after the incubation experiment. A deeper O horizon was found under the pine forest than under oak one; however, higher SOC content was found in the oak site than that under pine one. During the in vitro mineralization process, a lower CO2 production by the soil sample from pine forest was observed, in relation to that emitted by the oak soil. In addition, a lower humification degree was estimated for the soil humus under pines than for that under oaks. In conclusion, replacement of oaks by pines produced a decrease in SOC accumulation and a lower quality of humus in the forest soils.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aggangan RT, O`Connell AM, McGrath JF, Dell B (1998) Fertilizer and previous land use effects on C and N mineralization in soils from Eucalyptus globulus plantations. Soil Biol Biochem 30:1791–1798

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Albadalejo J, Martínez-Mena M, Toldán A, Castillo V (1998) Soil degradation and desertification induced by vegetation removal in semiarid environment. Soil Use Manag 14:1–5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aranda V, Oyonarte C (2006) Characteristics of organic matter in soil surface horizon derived from calcareous and metamorphic rocks and different vegetation types from the Mediterranean high-mountains in SE Spain. Eur J Soil Biol 42:247–258

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Batjes NH (1996) Total carbon and nitrogen in the soils of the world. Eur J Soil Sci 47:151–163

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Batjes NH (1998) Mitigation of atmospheric CO2 concentrations by increased carbon sequestration in the soil. Biol Fertility Soils 27:230–235

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bronick CJ, Lal R (2005) Soil structure and management: a review. Geoderma 124:3–22

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chan KY, Heenam DP, Oates A (2002) Soil carbon fractions and relationship to soil quality under different tillage and stubble management. Soil Tillage Res 63:133–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chefetez B, Tarchitzky J, Destimukh AP, Hatcher PG, Chen Y (2002) Structural characterization of soil organic matter and humic acids in particle size fractions of an agricultural soil. Soil Sci Soc Am J 66:129–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins ME, Kuehl RJ (2001) Organic matter accumulation and organic soils. In: Richardson JL, Vepraskas MJ (eds) Wetland soils: genesis. Hydrology, Landscapes and Classification. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA, pp 137–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Dai J, Ran W, Xing B, Gu M, Wang L (2006) Characterization of fulvic acid fractions obtained by sequential extractions with pH buffers, water and ethanol from paddy soils. Geoderma 135:284–295

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Duchaufour P, Jacquin F (1975) Comparaison des processus d′humification dans les principaux types d′humus forestiers. Bull. Assoc Francaise pour l′Etude du Sol 1:29–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuentes M, Gonzales-Gaitano G, García Mina JM (2006) The use and fullness of UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopies to study the chemical nature of humic substances from soils compost. Organic Geochem 37:1949–1959

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gallardo A, Merino J (1993) Leaf decomposition in two Mediterranean ecosystems of southwest Spain: influence of substrate quality. Ecology 74:152–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallardo JF, Santa Regina I, San Miguel C (1989) Ciclos biogeoquímicos en bosques de la Sierra de Béjar: 1. Producción de la hojarasca. Rev Ecol Biol Sol 26:35–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Giampaolo S, Pardo MT, Almendros G (1996) Effect of cultivation on chemical characteristics and respiratory activity of crusting soil from Mazowe (Zimbabwe). Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 27:2111–2124

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes MHB, Clapp CE (2001) Humic substances: considerations of compositions, aspects of structure, and environmental influences. Soil Sci 166:723–737

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes MHB, Graham CL (2000) Procedures for the isolation and fractionation of humic substances. In: Ghabbour EA, Davies G (eds) Humic substances. Versatile components of plants, soil and water. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, pp 91–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Haynes RJ (2000) Labile organic matter as an indicator of organic matter quality in arable and pastoral soils in New Zeeland. Soil Biol Biochem 32:211–219

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Keith H, Raison RJ, Jacobsen KL (1997) Allocation of carbon in mature eucalypt forest and some effects of soil phosphorus availability. Plant Soil 196:81–99

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maie N, Watanabe A, Kimura M (2004) Chemical characteristics and potential source of fulvic acids leached from the plow layer of paddy soil. Geoderma 120:309–323

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Martín A, Gallardo JF, Santa Regina I (1997) Long-term decomposition process of leaf litter from Quercus pyrenaica forests across a rainfall gradient (Spanish Central System). Ann Sci For 54:191–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merino A, Real C, Rodriguez-Guitián MA (2008) Nutrient status of managed and natural forest fragments of Fagus sylvatica in southern Europe. For Ecol Manag 255:3691–3699

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miralles I, Ortega R, Almendros G, Sanchez-Marañon M, Soriano M (2009) Soil quality and organic carbon ratios in mountain agroecosystems of South-east Spain. Geoderma 150:120–128

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moyano A, Gallardo JF, San Miguel C (1989) Mineralización in vitro de epipedones enriquecidos con compost orgánico. Rev Ecol Biol 26:81–188

    Google Scholar 

  • O′Brien ND, Attiwill PM, Weston CJ (2003) Stability of soil organic matter in Eucalyptus regnans forests and Pinus radiata plantations in south eastern Australia. Forest Ecol Management 185:249–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orlov DS, Biryukova ON, Rozanova MS (2004) Revised system of the humus status parameters of soils and their genetic horizons. Euriasian Soil Science 37:798–805

    Google Scholar 

  • Polo A, Almendros G, Dorado E (1983) Dispositivo de incubación para el estudio de la mineralización de la materia orgánica. Edaf Agrobiol 42:1335–1340

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Prentice IC, Farquhar GD, Fasham MJ (2001) The carbon cycle and atmospheric carbon dioxide. In: Houghton RA et al (eds) Climate change: the scientific basis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 183–237

    Google Scholar 

  • Quideau SA, Chadwick OA, Benesi A, Graham RC, Anderson MA (2001) A direct link between forest vegetation type and soil organic matter composition. Geoderma 104:41–60

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ranger J, Gérard F, Lindemann M, Gelhaye D, Gelhaye L (2003) Dynamics of litterfall in a chronosequence of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) stands in the Beaujolais mounts (France). Ann For Sci 60:475–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosa AH, Simoes ML, de Oliveira LC, Rocha JC, Neto LM, Milori DMBP (2005) Multimethod study of the degree of humification of humic substances extracted from different tropical soil profiles in Brazil’s Amazonian region. Geoderma 127:1–10

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Santa Regina I, Gallardo JF (1995) Biogeochemical cycles in forests of the ‘Sierra de Béjar’ mountains: decomposition index of the leaf litter. Ann Sci For 52:393–399

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santa Regina I, Gallardo JF, San Miguel C, Moyano A (1989) Intercepción, pluviolavado y escorrentía cortical en una plantación de Pinus sylvestris de la Cuenca de Candelario. Bosque (Valdivia) 10:19–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger WH (2004) Biogeochemistry: an analysis of global change, 2nd edn. Academic Press, San Diego, California

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulze ED, Wirth C, Heimann M (2000) Managing forest after Kyoto. Science 289:2058–2059

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shirshova LT, Ghabbour EA, Davies G (2006) Spectroscopic characterization of humic acid fractions isolated from soil using different extraction procedures. Geoderma 133:204–216

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Silveira ML, Comerford NB, Reddy KR, Cooper WT, El-Rifai H (2008) Characterization of soil organic carbon pools by acid hydrolysis. Geoderma 144:405–414

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Silveira ML, Comerford NB, Reddy KR, Prenger J, DeBusk WF (2009) Soil properties as indicators of disturbance in forest ecosystems of Georgia, USA. Ecologica Indicators 9:740–747

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slepetiene A, Slepetys J (2005) Status of humus in soil under various long-term tillage systems. Geoderma 127:207–215

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sparks DL (1995) The environmental chemistry of soils. Geoderma special volume. Elsevier, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson FJ (1994) Humus chemistry, genesis, composition, reactions, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson FJ, Cole MA (1999) Cycles of soil, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Tate RL (1987) Soil organic matter: biological and ecological effects. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Turcotte I, Quideau SA, Oh SW (2009) Organic matter quality in reclaimed boreal forest soils following oil sands mining Organic Geochemistry. doi:10.1016/j.orggeochem .2009.01.003

  • Vaieretti MV, Pérez-Harguindeguy N, Gurvich DE, Cingolani AM, Cabido M (2005) Decomposition dynamics and physico-chemical leaf quality of abundant species in a montane woodland in central Argentina. Plant Soil 278:223–234

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang GX, Qian J, Cheng GY, Lai YM (2002) Soil organic carbon pool of grassland soils on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and its global implication. Sci Total Environ 291:207–217

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang WJ, Dalal RC, Moody PW, Smith J (2003) Relationships of soil respiration to microbial biomass, substrate availability and clay content. Soil Biol Biochem 35:273–284

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wesemael VB, Veer M (1992) Soil organic matter accumulation and humus forms under Mediterranean-type forests in Southern Tuscany, Italy. J Soil Sci 43:133–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White DA II, Welty-Bernard A, Rasmussen C, Schwartz E (2009) Vegetation controls on soil organic carbon dynamics in an arid, hyperthermic ecosystem. Geoderma 150:214–223

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang YS, Wang K, Kellomaki S, Gong H (2005) Litter dynamics of three subalpine forests in Western Sichuan. Pedosphere 15:653–659

    Google Scholar 

  • Zancada MC, Almendros G, Jiménez-Ballesta R (2003) Humus quality after eucalypt reforestations in Asturias (Northern Spain). Sci Total Environ 313:245–258

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zanelli R, Egli M, Mirabella A, Giaccai D, Fitze P (2006) Influence of laurophyllous species, Castanea sativa and Quercetum–Betuletum vegetation on organic matter in soils in southern Switzerland and northern Italy. Geoderma 136:723–737

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the ‘Junta de Castilla y León’ (Projects VA094A06 and VA014A07) and the Spanish ‘Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia’ (Project CTM2006-02249/TECNO).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elena Charro.

Additional information

Communicated by A. Merino.

This article belongs to the special issue “Plant-soil relationships in Southern European forests”.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Charro, E., Gallardo, J.F. & Moyano, A. Degradability of soils under oak and pine in Central Spain. Eur J Forest Res 129, 83–91 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-009-0320-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-009-0320-4

Keywords

Navigation