ANALYSING THE TRANSFORMATION OF FOREST LITTER’S ORGANIC MATTER ON DIFFERENT STAGES OF SECONDARY SUCCESSION OF A MIDDLE TAIGA FOREST USING THE FOURIER-TRANSFORM INFRARED SPECTROMETRY
- Authors: Sabrekov A.F.1, Kupriianova I.V.1, Koval A.A.1, Ilyasov D.V.1, Glagolev M.V.1,2,3, Lapshina E.D.1
-
Affiliations:
- Yugra State University
- Moscow State University, Soil Science Faculty
- Institute of Forest Science of the RAS
- Issue: No 1 (2025)
- Pages: 50-64
- Section: RESEARCH
- URL: https://journal-vniispk.ru/0024-1148/article/view/304649
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S0024114825010053
- EDN: https://elibrary.ru/edpfwt
- ID: 304649
Cite item
Abstract
Organic matter decomposition is a key process in the carbon cycle that controls the rate of carbon dioxide emission, carbon accumulation in the soil, and the availability of mineral elements for plants. Changes in the forest stand’s composition during secondary succession result in changes in the quality of litter, which affects the rate and depth of its transformation. We analysed how the chemical structure of the L-horizons of litter changes from October to August at different stages of secondary succession in typical forest ecosystems of Western Siberia’s middle taiga using IR spectrometry and elemental analysis. It turned out that the structure of organic matter in the L-horizons was transformed to the largest degree at intermediate stages of succession (in an aspen forest with a dark coniferous second storey), while at previous (monodominant aspen forests) and subsequent successional stages (mixed and dark coniferous forests), changes were less pronounced. These changes include a decrease in the proportion of relatively easily decomposable components (cellulose and carbohydrates) and accumulation of aromatic compounds and polyesters that are more recalcitrant to decomposition. Aspen forest with the dark coniferous second storey and dark coniferous forest turned out to be the objects with the highest difference in terms of changes in the litter’s elemental composition: the ratio of total carbon to nitrogen over the period from October to August increased the least in the former and the most in the latter. This combination of IR spectrometry and elemental analysis results can be explained by differences in the efficiencies of depolymerisation of nitrogen-containing compounds in litter. In general, the obtained results show that litter transformation during decomposition does not always depend only on its initial quality, even in closely located ecosystems where physical conditions are virtually identical. The functioning of the microbial community may be the cause of these differences in transformation at different stages of succession.
Keywords
About the authors
A. F. Sabrekov
Yugra State University
Email: sabrekovaf@gmail.com
Chekhova st. 16, Khanty-Mansiysk, 628012 Russian Federation
I. V. Kupriianova
Yugra State University
Email: sabrekovaf@gmail.com
Chekhova st. 16, Khanty-Mansiysk, 628012 Russian Federation
A. A. Koval
Yugra State University
Email: sabrekovaf@gmail.com
Chekhova st. 16, Khanty-Mansiysk, 628012 Russian Federation
D. V. Ilyasov
Yugra State University
Author for correspondence.
Email: sabrekovaf@gmail.com
Chekhova st. 16, Khanty-Mansiysk, 628012 Russian Federation
M. V. Glagolev
Yugra State University; Moscow State University, Soil Science Faculty; Institute of Forest Science of the RAS
Email: sabrekovaf@gmail.com
Chekhova st. 16, Khanty-Mansiysk, 628012 Russian Federation; Leninskie Gory 1 bldg. 12, Moscow, 119991 Russian Federation; Sovetskaya st. 21, Uspenskoe, Moscow Oblast, 143030 Russian Federation
E. D. Lapshina
Yugra State University
Email: sabrekovaf@gmail.com
Chekhova st. 16, Khanty-Mansiysk, 628012 Russian Federation
References
- Adamczyk B., How do boreal forest soils store carbon?, BioEssays, 2021, Vol. 43, No. 7, p. 2100010. https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.202100010
- Akkumulyatsiya ugleroda v lesnykh pochvakh i suktsessionnyi status lesov (Carbon accumulation in forest soils and forest succession status), Moscow: Tovarishchestvo nauchnykh izdanii KMK, 2018, 232 p.
- Angst G., Mueller K.E., Nierop K.G.J., Simpson M.J., Plant- or microbial-derived? A review on the molecular composition of stabilized soil organic matter, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 2021, Vol. 156, p. 108189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108189
- Artemkina N.A., Vzaimosvyazi fenol'nykh soedinenii, taninov, lignina, azota i ugleroda v rasteniyakh el'nikov kustarnichkovo-zelenomoshnykh na Kol'skom poluostrove (Physical-mechanical wood properties of pine culture of different planting density in Tambov region), Lesovedenie, 2023, No. 1, pp. 35–43. https://doi.org/10.31857/S0024114823010047.
- Basova E.V., Lukina N.V., Kuznetsova A.I. et al., Kachestvo drevesnogo opada kak informativnyi indikator funktsional'noi klassifikatsii lesov (Quality of wood litter as an informative indicator of functional classification of forests), Voprosy lesnoi nauki, 2022, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 1–21. https://doi.org/10.31509/2658-607x-202252-113
- Berezin G.V., Kapitsa E.A., Shorokhova E.V., Sovremennye predstavleniya o razlozhenii drevesnogo opada v lesnykh ekosistemakh (Modern concepts of decomposition of wood litter in forest ecosystems), In: Lesa Rossii: politika, promyshlennost', nauka, obrazovanie (Forests of Russia: policy, industry, science, education). 2023, pp. 118–120.
- Bogatyrev L.G., O klassifikatsii lesnykh podstilok (On forest liters classification), Pochvovedenie, 1990, No. 3, pp. 118–127.
- Canadell J.G., Monteiro P.M.S., Costa M.H. et al., Syampungani S., Zaehle S., Zickfeld K., Global carbon and other biogeochemical cycles and feedbacks, Climate change 2021: The physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the sixth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp. 673–816.
- Cotrufo M.F., del Galdo I., Litter decomposition: concepts, methods and future perspectives, Soil Carbon Dynamics, 2009, pp. 76–90.
- Cotrufo M.F., Galdo I.D. Piermatteo D., Litter decomposition: concepts, methods and future perspectives, Soil Carbon Dynamics: An Integrated Methodology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 76–90.
- Fernández-Alonso M.J., Yuste J.C., Kitzler B., Ortiz C., Changes in litter chemistry associated with global change-driven forest succession resulted in time–decoupled responses of soil carbon and nitrogen cycles, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 2018, Vol. 120, pp. 200–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2018.02.013
- Ge X., Zeng L., Xiao W. et al., Effect of litter substrate quality and soil nutrients on forest litter decomposition: A review, Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2013, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 102–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chnaes.2013.01.006
- Grabska J., Beć K.B., Huck C.W., Current and future applications of IR and NIR spectroscopy in ecology, environmental studies, wildlife and plant investigations, Comprehensive Analytical Chemistry, 2021, Vol. 98, pp. 45–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.coac.2020.08.002
- Heller C., Ellerbrock R.H., Roßkopf N., Klingenfuß C., Zeitz J., Soil organic matter characterization of temperate peatland soil with FTIR‐spectroscopy: Effects of mire type and drainage intensity, European J. of Soil Science, 2015, Vol. 66, No. 5, pp. 847–858. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.12279
- Hodgkins S.B., Richardson C.J., Dommain R. et al., Tropical peatland carbon storage linked to global latitudinal trends in peat recalcitrance, Nature Communications, 2018, Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 3640. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06050-2
- Ivanov A.V., Lynov D.V., Panfilova E.V., Braun M., Zamolodchikov D.G., Forest litters as a link in the carbon cycle in coniferous–broadleaved forests of the Southern Far East of Russia, Eurasian Soil Science, 2018, Vol. 51, No. 10, pp. 1164–1171.
- Ivanov A.V., Zapasy lesnykh podstilok v kedrovo-shirokolistvennykh lesakh Yuzhnogo Sikhote-Alinya (Forest Litter Stocks in Korean Pine-Broad-Leaved Forests of the Southern Sikhote Alin), Sibirskii lesnoi zhurnal, 2015, No. 5, pp. 87–95. https://doi.org/10.15372/SJFS20150507
- Ivanova E.A., Formirovanie i razlozhenie drevesnogo opada v lesnykh ekosistemakh v fonovykh usloviyakh i pri aerotekhnogennom zagryaznenii (Tree litter production and decomposition in forest ecosystems under background conditions and industrial air pollution), Voprosy lesnoi nauki, 2021, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 1–52. https://doi.org/10.31509/2658-607x-202143-87
- Kharuk V.I., Ponomarev E.I., Ivanova G.A., Dvin- skaya M.L., Coogan S.C.P., Flannigan M.D., Wildfires in the Siberian taiga, Ambio, 2021, Vol. 50, No. 11, pp. 1953–1974. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01490-x
- Kobak K.I., Bioticheskie komponenty uglerodnogo tsikla (Biotic components of the carbon cycle), Leningrad: Gidrometeoizdat, 1988, 248 p.
- Kupriianova I.V., Kaverin A.A., Filippov I.V. et al., The main physical and geographical characteristics of the Mukhrino field station area and its surroundings, Environmental Dynamics and Global Climate Change, 2022, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 215–252. https://doi.org/10.18822/edgcc240049
- Kuznetsov M.A., Vliyanie uslovii razlozheniya i sostava opada na kharakteristiki i zapas podstilki v srednetaezhnom chernichno-sfagnovom el'nike (Effect of decomposition conditions and falloff composition on litter reserves and characteristics in a bilberry-sphagnum spruce forest of middle taiga), Lesovedenie, 2010, No. 6, pp. 54-60.
- Laganière J., Pare D., Bradley R.L., How does a tree species influence litter decomposition? Separating the relative contribution of litter quality, litter mixing, and forest floor conditions, Canadian J. of Forest Research, 2010, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 465–475.
- Legendre P., Legendre L., Numerical ecology, Developments in Environmental Modelling, Vol. 24, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science BV, 2012, 989 p.
- Lukina N.V., Global'nye vyzovy i lesnye ekosistemy (Global challenges and forest ecosystems), Vestnik RAN, 2020, Vol. 90, No. 6, pp. 528–532. https://doi.org/10.31857/S0869587320060080
- Pandey K.K., Pitman A.J., FTIR studies of the changes in wood chemistry following decay by brown–rot and white–rot fungi, International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation, 2003, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 151–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0964-8305(03)00052-0
- Prăvălie R., Major perturbations in the Earth's forest ecosystems. Possible implications for global warming, Earth-Science Reviews, 2018, Vol. 185, pp. 544–571. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.06.010
- Reuter H., Gensel J., Elvert M., Zak D., Evidence for preferential protein depolymerization in wetland soils in response to external nitrogen availability provided by a novel FTIR routine, Biogeosciences, 2020, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 499–514. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-499-2020
- Semenov V.M., Tulina A.S., Semenova N.A., Ivanniko- va L.A., Humification and nonhumification pathways of the organic matter stabilization in soil: A review, Eurasian Soil Science, 2013, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 355–368.
- Soong J.L., Parton W.J., Calderon F., Campbell E.E., Cotrufo M.F., A new conceptual model on the fate and controls of fresh and pyrolized plant litter decomposition, Biogeochemistry, 2015, Vol. 124, No. 1–3, pp. 27–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-015-0079-2
- Volkov D.S., Rogova O.B., Proskurnin M.A., Organic matter and mineral composition of silicate soils: FTIR comparison study by photoacoustic, diffuse reflectance, and attenuated total reflection modalities, Agronomy, 2021, Vol. 11, No. 9, pp. 1879. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11091879
- Wardle D.A., Bardgett R.D., Klironomos J.N. et al., Ecological linkages between aboveground and belowground biota, Science, 2004, Vol. 304, No. 5677, pp. 1629–1633. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1094875
- Yang K., Zhu J., Zhang W. et al., Litter decomposition and nutrient release from monospecific and mixed litters: Comparisons of litter quality, fauna and decomposition site effects, J. of Ecology, 2022, Vol. 110, No. 7, pp. 1673–1686. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13902
- Zechmeister-Boltenstern S., Keiblinger K.M., Mooshammer M. et al., The application of ecological stoichiometry to plant–microbial–soil organic matter transformations, Ecological Monographs, 2015, Vol. 85, No. 2, pp. 133–155. https://doi.org/10.1890/14-0777.1
- Zhang K., Cheng X., Dang H. et al., Linking litter production, quality and decomposition to vegetation succession following agricultural abandonment, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 2013, Vol. 57, pp. 803–813. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2012.08.005
Supplementary files
