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Great fraction of dissolved organic C and N in the primary per-humid Chamaecyparis forest soil

Chih-Wei Tsai,G. Tian,C. Chiu

Published 2015 in Botanical Studies

ABSTRACT

BackgroundLabile organic matter plays a crucial role in a variety of forest functions, however, our understanding to its quality and quantity across various forests is limited, particularly primary forests. We investigated soil labile C and N (i.e. microbial biomass C and N, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON), associated ammonium, and nitrate) at three topographic locations (i.e. summit, footslope and lakeshore) in a primary Chamaecyparis forest of Taiwan. The following hypotheses are tested in this study: (1) This undisturbed Chamaecyparis forest shows the great size of soil labile C and N; (2) there is an evident topographic effect on the distribution of soil labile C and N and the associated inorganic N over seasons.ResultsFulfilling with our first hypothesis, the considerable size of labile C and N in this forest soil was quantified. Abundant C availability and the acidity of soils in this forest favoured ammonium production over nitrate. The undisturbed environment with per-humid and acidic soil was linked to the high concentrations of soil DOC and DON as the dominant form in N dynamics. In contrast to our second hypothesis, topographic effects on soil labile C and N were generally not evident, suggesting the homogeneous soil environment across various topographic locations in this Chamaecyparis forest.ConclusionsThis study illustrates the sustainable importance of primary montane forests for being sources of DOC and DON.

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