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Changes in forest soil organic matter quality affected by windstorm and wildfire

  • Humic Substances in the Environment
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Correction to this article was published on 18 April 2018

This article has been updated

Abstract

Purpose

Windthrows and fires are major natural disturbances in forest ecosystems, which can affect organic matter in the surface and the mineral layer of forest soil. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the changes occurring in the structure and properties of humic acid (HA) in the lands where windthrows and wildfires occurred.

Materials and methods

In November 2004, the forest in the area of 12,000 ha in the Tatra National Park, Slovakia, was seriously damaged by northern wind gusts exceeding 200 km/h. In July 2005, a wildfire broke out in a 220 ha of wind-damaged area. The HAs have been isolated from four research plots: (a) the area where the fallen trees were removed (EXT); (b) an area after windstorm covered by wood from struck trees (NEX), left for spontaneous succession; (c) an area after extracted timber, damaged by the surface wildfire (FIR); and (d) a reference intact spruce forest area (REF). Changes in the chemical structure of the HAs isolated from the research plots were determined on the basis of elemental analysis and UV-Vis, EPR, IR, and 13C NMR spectroscopy.

Results and discussion

All used analytical methods showed a decrease in the humification degree of the humic acids extracted from the soils where the spruce forest has been affected by a wildfire and a windthrow. In the case of the control sample HA (REF), the calculated atomic H/C and O/C ratios and the degree of aromaticity (α) calculated from the 13C NMR spectra were higher, indicating higher aromaticity of HA from the REF area. The more complex and developed structure of REF HA was confirmed by the higher value of E1%6 and the lower E4/E6 ratio obtained using UV-Vis spectroscopy. Also, the higher g-parameters determined from the EPR spectra of the stable radicals present in HA confirmed the lower aromaticity on the plots that have been subjected to the calamities. The 13C NMR spectra and the elemental analysis show that the structure of the HA extracted from the NEX plot is the closest to the REF.

Conclusions

The results of the systematic research showed significant changes in the structure of HA taken from spruce forest soils that were subjected to windstorms and fires. An enrichment of the HAs in aliphatic carbon and so a lower humification degree of the organic matter in the areas calamity-affected were observed. The results clearly indicate that the HAs extracted from the disturbed plots of the spruce forest are not as stable as those extracted taken from the control plot.

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Change history

  • 18 April 2018

    In the online and published version of this article there was an error in the name of the corresponding author: Maria Jarzykiewicz should be Maria Jerzykiewicz.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contracts APVV-14-0087 and APVV-15-0176. The EPR, FT-IR, E4/E6, and metal ion analyses were financially supported by the Wrocław Centre of Biotechnology, The Leading National Research Centre (KNOW) programme for the years 2014–2018.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Agricultural and Food Centre–Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute, Regional Working Place Prešov, 08001, Prešov, Slovakia

    Gabriela Barančíková & Tadeáš Litavec

  2. Faculty of Chemistry, University of Wroclaw, F. Joliot-Curie 14 50-383, Wroclaw, Poland

    Maria Jarzykiewicz

  3. Faculty of Forestry, Technical University in Zvolen, T.G. Masaryka 24, 96053, Zvolen, Slovakia

    Erika Gömöryová

  4. Faculty of Soil Science, Slovak University of Agriculture, Tr. A. Hlinku, 94976, Nitra, Slovakia

    Erika Tobiašová

Authors
  1. Gabriela Barančíková
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  2. Maria Jarzykiewicz
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  3. Erika Gömöryová
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  4. Erika Tobiašová
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  5. Tadeáš Litavec
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Correspondence to Maria Jarzykiewicz.

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Responsible editor: Heike Knicker

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Barančíková, G., Jarzykiewicz, M., Gömöryová, E. et al. Changes in forest soil organic matter quality affected by windstorm and wildfire. J Soils Sediments 18, 2738–2747 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-018-1942-2

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