Dataset Information

Application of wood ash leads to strong vertical gradients in soil pH changing prokaryotic community structure in forest top soil.

ABSTRACT: Wood ash is alkaline and contains base-cations. Application of wood ash to forests therefore counteracts soil acidification and recycle nutrients removed during harvest. Wood ash application to soil leads to strong vertical gradients in physicochemical parameters. Consequently, we designed an experimental system where small-scale vertical changes in soil properties and prokaryotic community structure could be followed after wood ash application. A mixed fly and bottom ash was applied in dosages of 3 and 9 t ha^-1 to the surface of soil mesocosms, simulating a typical coniferous podzol. Soil pH, exchangeable cations and 16S prokaryotic community was subsequently assessed at small depth intervals to 5 cm depth at regular intervals for one year. Wood ash significantly changed the prokaryotic community in the top of the soil column. Also, the largest increases in pH and concentrations of exchangeable cations was found here. The relative abundance of prokaryotic groups directionally changed, suggesting that wood ash favors copiotrophic prokaryotes at the expense of oligotrophic and acidophilic taxa. The effect of wood ash were negligible both in terms of pH- and biological changes in lower soil layers. Consequently, by micro-vertical profiling we showed that wood ash causes a steep gradient of abiotic factors driving biotic changes but only in the top-most soil layers.

SUBMITTER: Bang-Andreasen T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7804945 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Application of wood ash leads to strong vertical gradients in soil pH changing prokaryotic community structure in forest top soil.

Bang-Andreasen Toke T Peltre Mette M Ellegaard-Jensen Lea L Hansen Lars Hestbjerg LH Ingerslev Morten M Rønn Regin R Jacobsen Carsten Suhr CS Kjøller Rasmus R

Scientific reports 20210112 1

Wood ash is alkaline and contains base-cations. Application of wood ash to forests therefore counteracts soil acidification and recycle nutrients removed during harvest. Wood ash application to soil leads to strong vertical gradients in physicochemical parameters. Consequently, we designed an experimental system where small-scale vertical changes in soil properties and prokaryotic community structure could be followed after wood ash application. A mixed fly and bottom ash was applied in dosages ...[more]

PMID: 33436951

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Project description:Recirculation of wood ash from energy production to forest soil improves the sustainability of this energy production form as recycled wood ash contains nutrients that otherwise would be lost at harvest. In addition, wood-ash is beneficial to many soils due to its inherent acid-neutralizing capabilities. However, wood ash has several ecosystem-perturbing effects like increased soil pH and pore water electrical conductivity both known to strongly impact soil bacterial numbers and community composition. Studies investigating soil bacterial community responses to wood ash application remain sparse and the available results are ambiguous and remain at a general taxonomic level. Here we investigate the response of bacterial communities in a spruce forest soil to wood ash addition corresponding to 0, 5, 22, and 167 t wood ash ha-1. We used culture-based enumerations of general bacteria, Pseudomonas and sporeforming bacteria combined with 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to valuate soil bacterial responses to wood ash application. Results showed that wood ash addition strongly increased soil pH and electrical conductivity. Soil pH increased from acidic through neutral at 22 t ha-1 to alkaline at 167 t ha-1. Bacterial numbers significantly increased up to a wood ash dose of 22 t ha-1 followed by significant decrease at 167 t ha-1 wood ash. The soil bacterial community composition changed after wood ash application with copiotrophic bacteria responding positively up to a wood ash dose of 22 t ha-1 while the adverse effect was seen for oligotrophic bacteria. Marked changes in bacterial community composition occurred at a wood ash dose of 167 t ha-1 with a single alkaliphilic genus dominating. Additionally, spore-formers became abundant at an ash dose of 167 t ha-1 whereas this was not the case at lower ash doses. Lastly, bacterial richness and diversity strongly decreased with increasing amount of wood ash applied. All of the observed bacterial responses can be directly explained by the wood ash induced changes in pH, electrical conductivity and the addition of wood ash inherent nutrients.

Project description:Soil fertility can be improved by effectively utilizing agricultural waste. Straw can supply energy and wood ash adds nutrients to improve soil quality. However, few kinds of research have investigated the effect of wood ash and straw on soil carbon sequestration and the soil bacterial population, particularly in calcareous soils. The main goal of this current study was to quantify the impact of a combination of wood ash and straw on the indicators described above using stable δ13C isotope analyses by applying wheat straw to calcareous soil under a long-term C4 crop rotation. The incubation experiment included four treatments as follows: (i) no amendment (Control); (ii) amendment with wood ash (W); (iii) amendment with straw (S); and (iv) a combined amendment of straw and wood ash (SW). Our results showed that sequestration of soil inorganic carbon (SIC) in the SW and W treatments was higher (an average of 7.78%) than that in the S and Control treatments. The sequestered soil organic carbon (SOC) in the SW treatment was 1.25-fold greater than that in the S treatment, while there was no evident effect on the SOC content compared with straw alone. The microbial biomass carbon increased under SW by 143.33%, S by 102.23%, and W by 13.89% relative to control. The dissolved organic carbon increased under SW by 112.0%, S by 66.61%, and W by 37.33% relative to the control. The pH and electrical conductivity were higher in the SW and W treatments than in the S treatment and the control. The SW was conducive to maintaining soil enzymatic activities and bacterial diversity. Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteriota were dominant in SW, while the Acidobacteria phyla were dominant in the S treatment. The diversity of bacteria in the soil and community composition of the bacteria were predominantly assessed by the levels of water-soluble K, pH, and electrical conductivity. The incorporation of straw and wood ash is probably more effective at improving SIC and SOC sequestration and ameliorates the soil microhabitat.

Project description:Summer droughts strongly affect soil organic carbon (SOC) cycling, but net effects on SOC storage are unclear as drought affects both C inputs and outputs from soils. Here, we explored the overlooked role of soil fauna on SOC storage in forests, hypothesizing that soil faunal activity is particularly drought-sensitive, thereby reducing litter incorporation into the mineral soil and, eventually, long-term SOC storage. In a drought-prone pine forest (Switzerland), we performed a large-scale irrigation experiment for 17 years and assessed its impact on vertical SOC distribution and composition. We also examined litter mass loss of dominant tree species using different mesh-size litterbags and determined soil fauna abundance and community composition. The 17-year-long irrigation resulted in a C loss in the organic layers (-1.0 kg C m-2 ) and a comparable C gain in the mineral soil (+0.8 kg C m-2 ) and thus did not affect total SOC stocks. Irrigation increased the mass loss of Quercus pubescens and Viburnum lantana leaf litter, with greater effect sizes when meso- and macrofauna were included (+215%) than when excluded (+44%). The enhanced faunal-mediated litter mass loss was paralleled by a many-fold increase in the abundance of meso- and macrofauna during irrigation. Moreover, Acari and Collembola community composition shifted, with a higher presence of drought-sensitive species in irrigated soils. In comparison, microbial SOC mineralization was less sensitive to soil moisture. Our results suggest that the vertical redistribution of SOC with irrigation was mainly driven by faunal-mediated litter incorporation, together with increased root C inputs. Our study shows that soil fauna is highly sensitive to natural drought, which leads to a reduced C transfer from organic layers to the mineral soil. In the longer term, this potentially affects SOC storage and, therefore, soil fauna plays a key but so far largely overlooked role in shaping SOC responses to drought.

Dataset Information

Application of wood ash leads to strong vertical gradients in soil pH changing prokaryotic community structure in forest top soil.

Publications

Application of wood ash leads to strong vertical gradients in soil pH changing prokaryotic community structure in forest top soil.

Similar Datasets

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