Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Organic matter chemistry and dynamics in clear-cut and unmanaged hardwood forest ecosystems

  • Published:
Biogeochemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Forest harvesting alters the organic matter cycle by changing litter inputs and the decomposition regime. We hypothesized that these changes would result in differences in organic matter chemistry between clear-cut and uncut watershed ecosystems. We studied the chemistry of soil organic matter (SOM), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in soil solutions and stream samples in clear-cut and uncut sites at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire using DOC fractionation techniques and solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

Alkyl-C (aliphatic compounds) and O-alkyl-C (carbohydrates) were the largest C fractions in soil and dissolved organic matter at Hubbard Brook. Alkyl-C ranged from 29–48% of soil C, 25–42% of soil solution C, and 22–42% of streamwater DOC. Carbohydrates comprised 32–49%, 36–43%, and 29–60% of C in soils, solutions, and streamwater, respectively. In both soils and soil solutions, the carbohydrate fraction decreased with increasing soil depth, while the aromaticity of organic matter increased with depth. There were no significant differences in the structural chemistry of SOM between clear-cut and uncut watersheds.

The aromatic-C fractions in soil solutions at the clear-cut site ranged from 12–16%, approximately 40% greater than at the uncut site (8.5–11%). Thus, clear-cutting has resulted in the leaching of more highly decomposed organic matter, and depletion of more aliphatic compounds in the soluble organic pool. Because DOC fluxes are small compared to the SOM pool, large differences in soil solution chemistry do not substantially alter the overall composition of SOM. While the organic chemistry of stream DOC varied greatly among 3 sampling dates, there were no obvious clear-cutting effects. Thus, temporal variations in flowpaths and/or in-stream processes appear to be more important than disturbance in regulating the organic carbon chemistry of these streams.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baldock JA, Oades JM, Nelson PN, Skene TM, Golchin A & Clarke P (1997) Assessing the extent of decomposition of natural organic materials using solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy. Aust. J. Soil Res. 35: 1061-1083

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldock JA & Preston CM (1995) Chemistry of carbon decomposition processes in forests as revealed by solid-state carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance. In: McFee WW & Kelly JM (Ed) Carbon Forms and Functions in Forest Soils (pp 89-117). Soil Sci. Soc. Am., Madison, Wisconsin

    Google Scholar 

  • Bormann FH & Likens GE (1979) Pattern and Process in a Forest Ecosystem. Springer-Verlag, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Buol SW, Hole FD, McCracken RJ & Southard RJ (1997) Soil Genesis and Classification. 4th ed. Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa

    Google Scholar 

  • Covington WW (1981) Changes in forest floor organic matter and nutrient content following clear cutting in northern hardwoods. Ecology 62: 41-48

    Google Scholar 

  • Covington WW & Aber JD (1980) Leaf production during secondary succession in northern hardwoods. Ecology 61: 200-204

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahlgren RA & Driscoll CT (1994) The effects of whole-tree clear-cutting on soil processes at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, USA. Plant & Soil 158: 239-262

    Google Scholar 

  • Dai KH, David MB & Vance GF (1996) Characterization of solid and dissolved carbon in a spruce-fir Spodosol. Biogeochemistry 35: 339-365

    Google Scholar 

  • David MB & Driscoll CT (1984) Aluminum speciation and equilibria in soil solutions of a Haplorthod in the Adirondack Mountains (New York, USA). Geoderma 33: 297-318

    Google Scholar 

  • David MB & Vance GF (1991) Chemical character and origin of organic acids in streams and seepage lakes of central Maine. Biogeochemistry 12: 17-41

    Google Scholar 

  • David MB, Vance GF & Kahl JS (1992) Chemistry of dissolved organic carbon and organic acids in two streams draining forested watersheds. Water Resour. Res. 28: 389-396

    Google Scholar 

  • David MB, Vance GF, Rissing JM & Stevenson FJ (1989) Organic carbon fractions in extracts of O and B horizons from a New England Spodosol: effects of acid treatment. J. Environ. Qual. 18: 212-217

    Google Scholar 

  • David MB & Zech W (1990) Adsorption of dissolved organic carbon and sulfate by acid forest soils in the Fichtelgebirge, FRG. Z. Pflanzenernähr. Bodenk. 153: 379-384

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies BE (1974) Loss-on-ignition as an estimate of soil organic matter. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Proc. 38: 150-151

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawson HJ, Ugolini FC, Hrutfiord BF & Zachara J (1978) Role of soluble organics in the soil processes of a podzol, central Cascades, Washington. Soil Sci. 126: 290-296

    Google Scholar 

  • Deinzer M, Melton R & Mitchell D (1975) Trace organic contaminants in drinking water: their concentration by reverse osmosis. Water Res. 9: 799-805

    Google Scholar 

  • Driscoll CT, Fuller RD & Simone DM (1988) Longitudinal variations in trace metal concentrations in a northern forested ecosystem. J. Environ. Qual. 17: 101-107

    Google Scholar 

  • Easthouse KB, Mulder J & Christophersen N (1992) Dissolved organic carbon fractions in soils and stream water during variable hydrological conditions at Birkenes, southern Norway. Water Resour. Res. 28: 1585-1596

    Google Scholar 

  • Federer CA, Flynn LD, Martin CW, Hornbeck JW & Pierce RS (1990) Thirty years of hydrometerological data at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire. USDA For Serv. Gen. Tech. Rep., NE-141

  • Gressel N, McColl JG, Preston CM, Newman RH & Powers RF (1996) Linkages between phosphorus transformations and carbon decomposition in a forest soil. Biogeochemistry 33: 97-123

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffin RA & Jurinak JJ (1973) Estimation of activity coefficients from the electrical conductivity of natural aquatic systems and soil extracts. Soil Sci. 116: 26-30

    Google Scholar 

  • Guggenberger G, Zech W & Schulten H-R (1994) Formation and mobilization pathways of dissolved organic matter: Evidence from chemical structural studies of organic matter fractions in acid forest floor solutions. Org. Geochem. 21: 51-66

    Google Scholar 

  • Hatcher PG (1987) Chemical structural studies of natural lignin by dipolar dephasing solidstate C-13 nuclear magnetic resonance. Org. Geochem. 11: 31-39

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendrickson OQ, Chatarpaul L & Burgess D (1989) Nutrient cycling following whole-tree and conventional harvest in northern mixed forest. Can. J. For. Res. 19: 725-735

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins DW, Chudke JA, Webster EA & Barraclough D (1997) Following the decomposition of ryegrass labelled with 13C and 15N in soil by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Euro. J. Soil Sci. 48: 623-631

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes JW & Fahey TJ (1994) Litterfall dynamics and ecosystem recovery during forest development. For. Ecol. Manage. 63: 181-198

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington TG, Johnson CE, Johnson AH, Siccama TG & Ryan DF (1989) Carbon, organic matter, and bulk density relationships in a forested Spodosol. Soil Sci. 148: 380-386

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington TG & Ryan DF (1990) Whole-tree harvesting effects on soil nitrogen and carbon. For. Ecol. Manage. 31: 193-204

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington TG, Ryan DF & Hamburg SP (1988) Estimating soil nitrogen and carbon pools in a northern hardwood forest ecosystem. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 52: 1162-1167

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson CE (1995) Soil nitrogen status eight years after whole-tree clear-cutting. Can. J. For. Res. 25: 1346-1355

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson CE, Driscoll CT, Fahey TJ & Siccama TG (1995) Carbon dynamics following clearcutting of a northern hardwood forest. In: McFee WW & Kelly JM (Ed) Carbon Forms and Functions in Forest Soils (pp 463-488). Soil Sci. Soc. Am., Madison, Wisconsin

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson CE, Driscoll CT, Siccama TG & Likens GE (2000) Element fluxes and landscape position in a northern hardwood forest watershed ecosystem. Ecosystems 3: 159-184

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson CE, Johnson AH, Huntington TG & Siccama TG (1991a) Whole-tree clear-cutting effects on soil horizons and organic-matter pools. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 55: 497-502

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson CE, Johnson AH & Siccama TG (1991b) Whole-tree clear-cutting effects on exchangeable cations and soil acidity. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 55: 502-507

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson CE, Romanowicz RB & Siccama TG (1997) Conservation of exchangeable cations after clear-cutting of a northern hardwood forest. Can. J. For. Res. 27: 859-868

    Google Scholar 

  • Kögel-Knabner I (1992) Forest Soil Organic Matter: Structure and Formation. Bayreuther Bodenkundliche Berichte, University of Bayreuth, Germany

    Google Scholar 

  • Kögel-Knabner I (1993) Biodegradation and humification processes in forest soils. In: Bollag JM & Stotsky G (Eds) Soil Biochemistry, Vol. 8 (pp 101-135), Marcel Dekker, New York, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kögel-Knabner I, Zech W & Hatcher PG (1988) Chemical composition of the organic matter in forest soils: III. The humus layer. Z. Pflanzenernähr. Bodenk. 151: 331-340

    Google Scholar 

  • Leenheer JA (1981) Comprehensive approach to preparative isolation and fractionation of dissolved organic carbon from natural waters and wastewaters. Environ. Sci. Technol. 15: 578-587

    Google Scholar 

  • Leenheer JA & Huffman EWD (1979) Analytical method for dissolved organic carbon fractionation. US Geological Survey Water Resources Investigations 79-4

  • Likens GE & Bormann FH (1995) Biogeochemistry of a Forested Ecosystem. 2nd ed. Springler-Verlag, New York, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • MacCarthy P, Bloom PR, Clapp CE & Malcolm RL (1990) Humic substances in soil and crop sciences: an overview. In: MacCarthy et al. (Eds) Humic Subsatnces in Soil and Crop Sciences: Selected Readings (pp 261-271). American Soc. Agronomy & Soil Sci. Soc. Am., Madison, Wisconsin

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahieu N, Powlson DS & Randall EW (1999) Statistical analysis of published carbon-13 CPMAS NMR spectra of soil organic matter. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 63: 307-319

    Google Scholar 

  • Malcolm RL & MacCarthy P (1992) Quantitative evaluation of XAD-8 and XAD-4 resins used in tandem for removing organic solutes from water. Environ. Int. 18: 597-607

    Google Scholar 

  • Marks PL (1974) The role of pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica L.) in the maintenance of stability in northern hardwoods ecosystems. Ecol. Monogr. 44: 73-88

    Google Scholar 

  • Marks PL & Bormann FH (1972) Revegetation following forest cutting: mechanisms for return to steady-state nutrient cycling. Science 176: 914-915

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattson KG & Swank WT (1989) Soil and detrital carbon dynamics following forest cutting in the southern Appalachians. Biol. Fert. Soils 7: 247-253

    Google Scholar 

  • McDowell WH (1985) Kinetics and mechanisms of dissolved organic carbon retention in a headwater stream. Biogeochemistry 1: 329-352

    Google Scholar 

  • McDowell WH & Likens GE (1988) Origin, composition, and flux of dissolved organic carbon in the Hubbard Brook Valley. Ecol. Monogr. 58: 177-195

    Google Scholar 

  • McDowell WH & Wood T (1984) Podzolization: soil processes control dissolved organic carbon concentrations in stream water. Soil Sci. 137: 23-32

    Google Scholar 

  • McDowell WH, Currie WS, Aber JD & Yano Y (1998) Effects of chronic nitrogen amendments on production of dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen in forest soils. Water Air Soil Pollut. 105: 175-182

    Google Scholar 

  • Mo SS (1997) The Chemistry and Dynamics of Carbon in Forest Soils of the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, MS thesis, Syracuse University

  • Moore TR (1989) Dynamics of dissolved organic carbon in forested and disturbed catchments, Westland, New Zealand. 1. Maimai. Water Resour. Res. 25: 1321-1330

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore TR, de Souza W & Koprivnjak J-F (1992) Controls on the sorption of dissolved organic carbon by soils. Soil Sci. 154: 120-129

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson PN, Baldock JA & Oades JM (1993) Concentration and composition of dissolved organic carbon in streams in relation to catchment soil properties. Biogeochemistry 32: 27-50

    Google Scholar 

  • Odegaard H & Koottatep (1982) Removal of humic substances from natural waters by reverse osmosis. Water Res. 16: 613-620

    Google Scholar 

  • Perdue EM (1984) Analytical constraints on the structural features of humic substances. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 48: 1435-1442

    Google Scholar 

  • Perdue EM, Reuter JH & Parrish RS (1984) A statistical model of proton binding of humus. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 48: 1257-1263

    Google Scholar 

  • Qualls, RG & Haines BL (1991) Geochemistry of dissolved organic nutrients in water percolating through a forest ecosystem. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 55: 1112-1123

    Google Scholar 

  • Rice JA & MacCarthy P (1991) Statistical evaluation of the elemental composition of humic substances. Org. Geochem. 17: 635-648

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodin LE & Bazilevich (1967) Production and Mineral Cycling in Terrestrial Vegetation. Oliver & Boyd, London, England

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger WH (1997) Biogeochemistry: An Analysis of Global Change, 2nd ed. Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, Ca.

    Google Scholar 

  • Serkiz SM & Perdue EM (1990) Isolation of dissolved organic matter from the Suwannee River using reverse osmosis. Water Res. 24: 911-916

    Google Scholar 

  • Skjemstad JO, Clarke P, Taylor JA, Oades JM & Newman RH (1994) The removal of magnetic materials from surface soils. A solid state 13C CP/MAS NMR study. Aust. J. Soil Res. 32: 1215-1229

    Google Scholar 

  • Snyder KE & Harter RD (1985) Changes in solum chemistry following clear-cutting of northern hardwood stands. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 49: 223-228

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson FJ (1994) Humus Chemistry: Genesis, Composition, Reactions. 2nd ed. JohnWiley & Sons, New York, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Vance GF & David MB (1989) Effect of acid treatment on dissolved organic carbon retention by a spodic horizon. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 53: 1242-1247

    Google Scholar 

  • Vance GF & David MB (1991a) Chemical characterization and acidity of soluble organic substances from a northern hardwood forest floor, central Maine, USA. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 55: 3611-3625

    Google Scholar 

  • Vance GF & David MB (1991b) Forest soil response to acid and salt additions of sulfate: II. Solubilization and composition of dissolved organic carbon. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. 50: 992-996

    Google Scholar 

  • Vance GF, Mokma DL & Boyd SA (1986) Phenolic compounds in soils of hydro-sequences and developmental sequences of Spodosols. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 50: 992-996

    Google Scholar 

  • Zech W, Kögel I, Zucker A & Alt H (1985) CP-MAS-13C-NMR spectren organischer lagen einer Tangelrendzina. Z. Pflanzenernähr. Bodenk. 150: 262-265

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Syracuse University, 220 Hinds Hall, Syracuse, NY, 13244-1190, USA

    K'O H. Dai

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Syracuse University, 220 Hinds Hall, Syracuse, NY, 13244-1190, USA

    Chris E. Johnson

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Syracuse University, 220 Hinds Hall, Syracuse, NY, 13244-1190, USA

    Charles T. Driscoll

Authors
  1. K'O H. Dai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chris E. Johnson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Charles T. Driscoll
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chris E. Johnson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dai, K.H., Johnson, C.E. & Driscoll, C.T. Organic matter chemistry and dynamics in clear-cut and unmanaged hardwood forest ecosystems. Biogeochemistry 54, 51–83 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010697518227

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010697518227

Search

Navigation