G. Guggenberger et W. Zech, Soil organic matter composition under primary forest, pasture, and secondary forest succession, Region Huetar Norte, Costa Rica, FOREST ECOL, 124(1), 1999, pp. 93-104
Secondary forests are increasingly wide-spread on neotropical soils. In thi
s study, we investigated if, and how, the establishment of a secondary fore
st on abandoned pasture affect the quality of soil organic matter (SOM). We
approached this by a combination of physical fractionation of soil, where
particulate SOM (light fraction and sand-associated SOM) is separated from
mineral-bound SOM (silt- and clay-associated SOM), and structural chemical
analyses, including measurements of well-decomposable carbohydrates and the
more refractory lignin. Particle-size separation revealed that agricultura
l use of a soil being formerly under primary forest resulted in a depletion
of the particulate SOM pool, whereas clay- and silt-bound SOM was less aff
ected. Abandonment of the pasture and growth of a secondary forest raised t
he C content in all separates to a pre-cultivation level within 18 years, a
nd sand-associated C was even higher as compared to the primary forest. The
lignin and carbohydrate signature showed that the land use rarely affected
the chemical composition of SOM within the different fractions. This was c
orroborated by solution C-13 NMR spectroscopy of the NaOH-soluble SOM. The
results suggested that land use primarily influences the C balance across t
he light fraction and the size separates, with the particulate SOM pool bei
ng the most significant SOM component in the context of management impacts
on these soils. While the gross chemical composition of SOM within the frac
tions remained unaffected, some molecular differences indicated a shift in
the microbial community and/or activity at transformation of primary forest
into pasture and after abandonment of the pasture with growth of secondary
forest. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.