Influence of vegetation changes on soil organic matter

Abstract

In a heath region at Hjelm Hede in Denmark oak trees are invading a Calluna/Empetrum vegetation. In less than a century the oak invasion has caused considerable changes in the soil: what was once an O-horizon under Calluna has changed to an A-horizon under oak; the Calluna E-horizon has lost its distinct appearance; and the sharp boundary between E and Bh has been obliterated. The directly visible changes are associated with a rise in pH of about one unit in the top horizon under the oaks, an increasing content of organic matter in the E-horizon, a decreasing content of organic matter in the Bh-horizon, and a fall in the C/N ratio. In order to estimate the total microbiological activity, cotton strips were placed in the upper soil horizons. The loss in tensile strength during two summer months was 10–15% under Calluna, but more than 50% under oaks. Initial attempts to find differences in the type and content of organic matter showed that the most abundant low-molecular organic acids extracted from the Of-horizons were 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (protocatechuic acid), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoic acid (vanillic acid). The extraction was done in 0.1 M sodium pyrophosphate at pH 10.2. The organic compounds were determined by HPLC. The 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid was relatively the most important compound under the Calluna heath, whereas 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoic acid was most important under oaks. Extractions were performed on water samples from field lysimeter experiments to determine whether the substituted benzoic acids in the soil water arose under transport. These extractions exposed a ppm concentration of 2,4-dichlorobenzoic acid, a compound believed to originate from microbial decomposition of lysimeter material.