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Research
Tancredo Souza
Universidade de Coimbra
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8729-5478
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This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Purpose: The role of soil biotic and abiotic factors in crucial ecosystem services such as primary production, organic matter dynamics, nutrient cycling, and soil biota community structure in the Araucaria ecosystem remains poorly quantified. We aimed to understand how the site quality affects the development of organic horizons, root growth, soil chemical properties, and the entire soil biota community in even aged and monospecific Araucaria angustifolia plantations.
Methods: We collected soil monoliths to describe layers of organic matter and the complex soil food web into these layers. We determined soil pH, soil moisture, total nitrogen, available P, and total organic carbon into each layer (litter, F-layer, H-layer, and A horizon), the biomass of fine roots, the community structure of soil biota, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and nematodes, as well as the microbial biomass carbon.
Results: In the high-quality site, there was significantly higher organic matter formation, nutrient cycling (N and P), root growth, soil moisture, soil biota diversity, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, nematodes, and microbial activity evaluated by the microbial biomass carbon compared to the low-quality site.
Conclusions: High-quality sites promote the development of organic horizons, root growth on superficial layers that provide plant nutrient release, the A horizon nutrient contents, and the entire soil biota community in monospecific Araucaria angustifolia plantations located on humid subtropical Cambisols. This creates a positive plant-soil feedback that maintains soil quality and increases primary production, nutrient cycling, and habitat and food for the soil food web.
Keywords
Cambisols, Endangered tree species, Subtropical ecosystems, Soil organic horizons, Soil food web, Soil trophic structure
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This is a preprint. It has not completed peer review.
Research
Tancredo Souza
Universidade de Coimbra
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8729-5478
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
History
CURRENT STATUS: Posted
Version 1
Posted 04 May, 2021
No community comments so far
Metrics
Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
Subject Areas
Forestry
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Purpose: The role of soil biotic and abiotic factors in crucial ecosystem services such as primary production, organic matter dynamics, nutrient cycling, and soil biota community structure in the Araucaria ecosystem remains poorly quantified. We aimed to understand how the site quality affects the development of organic horizons, root growth, soil chemical properties, and the entire soil biota community in even aged and monospecific Araucaria angustifolia plantations.
Methods: We collected soil monoliths to describe layers of organic matter and the complex soil food web into these layers. We determined soil pH, soil moisture, total nitrogen, available P, and total organic carbon into each layer (litter, F-layer, H-layer, and A horizon), the biomass of fine roots, the community structure of soil biota, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and nematodes, as well as the microbial biomass carbon.
Results: In the high-quality site, there was significantly higher organic matter formation, nutrient cycling (N and P), root growth, soil moisture, soil biota diversity, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, nematodes, and microbial activity evaluated by the microbial biomass carbon compared to the low-quality site.
Conclusions: High-quality sites promote the development of organic horizons, root growth on superficial layers that provide plant nutrient release, the A horizon nutrient contents, and the entire soil biota community in monospecific Araucaria angustifolia plantations located on humid subtropical Cambisols. This creates a positive plant-soil feedback that maintains soil quality and increases primary production, nutrient cycling, and habitat and food for the soil food web.
Figure 1
Figure 2
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