Soil organic matter is important for acid buffering and reducing aluminum leaching from acidic forest soils

Jiang, Jun; Wang, Ying‐Ping; Yu, Mengxiao; Cao, Nannan; Yan, Junhua

doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.10.009

Cited by 119 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Soil properties, especially the soil CEC and clay content (and sometimes including other factors such as pH, SOM, and aridity etc. ), have been frequently suggested to affect the soil acid-buffering capacity to a great extent [15,17,18]. This is also supported by our observation that the soil CEC and clay content were exponentially related to changes in soil pH induced by the simulated acid rain treatments (Figure 4).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…An increasing amount of evidence shows that the soil acid-buffering capacity can vary greatly (e.g., ranges from 27.2 to 188.5 mmol kg −1 pH unit −1 in carbonate soils versus from 10.4 to 58.7 mmol kg −1 pH unit −1 in noncarbonate soils [15]) across ecosystems. The magnitude of soil acid-buffering capacity depends greatly on ecosystem traits such as the soil CEC and soil organic matter (SOM) [17,18], but anthropogenous activities such as agricultural managements could potentially modify the soil acid-buffering capacity [19][20][21]. Despite the increasing knowledge, the phase nature of soil acid-buffering capacity has been rarely studied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Soil pH Responses to Simulated Acid Rain Leaching in Three Agricultural Soils

et al. 2019

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Soil has the nature of acidity and alkalinity, mostly indicated by soil pH that could greatly affect soil ecological processes and functions. With exogenous inputs of acidic materials (such as acid rain), soils may more or less resist to maintain their pH levels within specific thresholds by various buffering processes. It has been well established that soil properties such as cation exchange capacity (CEC), soil organic matter (SOM), and clay content play important roles in mitigating the effects of acid inputs, but the factors varied across soils. This microcosm experiment was conducted to investigate changes in the soil pH and quantitatively estimate the critical pH threshold of simulated acid rain for three highly weathered soils (red soil, lateritic red soil, and latosol) that are typical soil types widely distributed across the world’s subtropical and tropical climatic zones, as well as important influential factors, after continuously adding different levels of simulated acid rain on the surface of soil cores. The results showed that the change in the soil pH was not significantly different among the three soils, although it was exponentially related to soil CEC and clay content. Resultantly, the latosol that had high soil CEC and clay content was more resistant to simulated acid rain, especially when relatively weak simulated acid rain treatments were applied. The lateritic red soil that contained the lowest soil CEC and clay content showed the greatest decline in the soil pH under the strongest simulated acid rain treatment of pH being 2.5. Furthermore, we estimated the critical pH threshold of simulated acid rain for the three soils and observed that it was considerably different among the soils. Surprisingly, the pH threshold of simulated acid rain was also positively related to the soil CEC and clay content, therefore making the highest pH threshold in the latosol. Our results imply that soil CEC and clay content may play critical roles in the soil acid-buffering processes from two aspects; it could not only contribute to the soil acid-buffering capacity, but also affect the threshold of acidity of acid rain below which abrupt soil acidification may occur.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil pH Responses to Simulated Acid Rain Leaching in Three Agricultural Soils

et al. 2019

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“…Under the warm and wet climate conditions, leaching would likely cause substantial loss of soil N and SOC after clearing (Yan et al, 2015), and significant disruption to the soil ion balance, therefore soil phosphorous cycle (Lu et al, 2009). Previous studies at this site also found that soil acid buffering capacity increased with SOC amount (Jiang et al, 2018); therefore, the broadleaved forest was more resilient against leaching loss of metal ions (such as soil Al and Fe), which played a significant role in SOC stabilization under last three decades of high N deposition. At present, the coniferous forest remains limited by available N, despite the large N deposition over the last three decades (Mo et al, 2003;Mo et al, 2006).…”

Section: 1029/2018jg004995mentioning

confidence: 74%

“…During weathering, not only the primary minerals in the soil are strongly decomposed but also the secondary alumino‐silicates are further decomposed, and the silicic acid and the base cations are largely leached, which results in an increase in soil clay content and a relative enrichment of soil Fe and Al oxides (Houlton et al, ; Krishnaswamy & Richter, ). In this study, the three forest soils all belong to the fast weathering systems and the weathering was further accelerated by the high acid deposition over the last two decades (Jiang et al, ; Jiang et al, ; Lu et al, ; Lu et al, ). However, our results showed that soil clay content and Fe and Al oxides were quite variable among the three forests, with the highest value in the broadleaved forest and the lowest value in the coniferous forest (Table and Figure ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Soil Organic Carbon Stabilization in the Three Subtropical Forests: Importance of Clay and Metal Oxides

Wang

Jiang

et al. 2019

JGR Biogeosciences

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Field observations show that subtropical forests can accumulate soil organic carbon (SOC) at high rate; however, the key mechanisms of SOC accumulation in subtropical forests remain unclear. Here we selected three typical subtropical forests with soil originated from same parent material under same climate condition in Dinghushan Biosphere Reserve, southern China: coniferous forest, mixed forest, and broadleaved forest with very different rates of SOC accumulation over the last three decades. To quantify the relative importance of physical versus chemical process on SOC stabilization in these forests, we used regression analysis to evaluate the relationship between the soil physical (clay, silt, and sand) and chemical (pH, Fe, and Al oxides) properties and SOC, and explored their respective contributions to SOC stabilization. Results showed that SOC stabilization was more strongly influenced by soil clay fraction through sorptive protection or microaggregate formation with SOC in the coniferous forest (r2 = 0.89, p < 0.05), and by chemical protection through forming organo‐mineral complexes in the mixed or broadleaved forest. Increasing carbon input was likely the main cause for SOC accumulation in the coniferous forest, but was not in the broadleaved forest. The strong linear relationships between SOC and Fe/Al oxides indicate that both the mixed (r2 = 0.63 and 0.57 with Feo and Alo, p < 0.05) and broadleaved forests (r2 = 0.96 and 0.78 with Fed and Alo, p < 0.05) on acid soils in southern China still have a great potential for further carbon sequestration in the future.

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“…This suggests that some of the effects of decomposition on soils may be dependent on soil chemistry or organic matter, and may be an explanation for the inconsistent effects on soil pH that have been previously reported in the literature ( Vass et al, 1992 ; Towne, 2000 ; Benninger et al, 2008 ; Aitkenhead-Peterson et al, 2012 ; Cobaugh et al, 2015 ; Fancher et al, 2017 ). SOM can buffer added acids, preventing pH decreases ( Jiang et al, 2018 ), which may explain why we saw an increase in pH in the SOM-rich site and decrease at the SOM-poor site. We additionally show here that protease activity and metabolite profiles were different at the two sites, indicating that the biological communities were also differentially affected.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Comparative Decomposition of Humans and Pigs: Soil Biogeochemistry, Microbial Activity and Metabolomic Profiles

et al. 2021

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Vertebrate decomposition processes have important ecological implications and, in the case of human decomposition, forensic applications. Animals, especially domestic pigs (Sus scrofa), are frequently used as human analogs in forensic decomposition studies. However, recent research shows that humans and pigs do not necessarily decompose in the same manner, with differences in decomposition rates, patterns, and scavenging. The objective of our study was to extend these observations and determine if human and pig decomposition in terrestrial settings have different local impacts on soil biogeochemistry and microbial activity. In two seasonal trials (summer and winter), we simultaneously placed replicate human donors and pig carcasses on the soil surface and allowed them to decompose. In both human and pig decomposition-impacted soils, we observed elevated microbial respiration, protease activity, and ammonium, indicative of enhanced microbial ammonification and limited nitrification in soil during soft tissue decomposition. Soil respiration was comparable between summer and winter, indicating similar microbial activity; however, the magnitude of the pulse of decomposition products was greater in the summer. Using untargeted metabolomics and lipidomics approaches, we identified 38 metabolites and 54 lipids that were elevated in both human and pig decomposition-impacted soils. The most frequently detected metabolites were anthranilate, creatine, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, taurine, xanthine, N-acetylglutamine, acetyllysine, and sedoheptulose 1/7-phosphate; the most frequently detected lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine and monogalactosyldiacylglycerol. Decomposition soils were also significantly enriched in metabolites belonging to amino acid metabolic pathways and the TCA cycle. Comparing humans and pigs, we noted several differences in soil biogeochemical responses. Soils under humans decreased in pH as decomposition progressed, while under pigs, soil pH increased. Additionally, under pigs we observed significantly higher ammonium and protease activities compared to humans. We identified several metabolites that were elevated in human decomposition soil compared to pig decomposition soil, including 2-oxo-4-methylthiobutanoate, sn-glycerol 3-phosphate, and tryptophan, suggesting different decomposition chemistries and timing between the two species. Together, our work shows that human and pig decomposition differ in terms of their impacts on soil biogeochemistry and microbial decomposer activities, adding to our understanding of decomposition ecology and informing the use of non-human models in forensic research.

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Soil organic matter is important for acid buffering and reducing aluminum leaching from acidic forest soils

Cited by 119 publications

References 39 publications

Soil pH Responses to Simulated Acid Rain Leaching in Three Agricultural Soils

Soil pH Responses to Simulated Acid Rain Leaching in Three Agricultural Soils

Soil Organic Carbon Stabilization in the Three Subtropical Forests: Importance of Clay and Metal Oxides

Comparative Decomposition of Humans and Pigs: Soil Biogeochemistry, Microbial Activity and Metabolomic Profiles

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