Department of Plant, Soil and Environmental Sciences Thesis Defense Seminar

1. Department of Plant, Soil and Environmental SciencesThesis Defense Seminar Soil Drainage Class Influences on Soil Organic Carbon in a New England Forested Watershed Jay RaymondM.S. Student

2. Acknowledgements • Committee: • Dr. Ivan J. Fernandez, Professor of Soil Science, Advisor • Dr. Tsutomu Ohno, Professor of Soil Chemistry • Dr. Kevin Simon, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Funding: Plant, Soil, Environmental Sciences Maine Agricultural & Forest Experiment Station

3. Seminar Overview • Introduction • Why? • Terrestrial C Cycle • Soil Drainage Classes • Wetland Soils • Forest Types • Hypotheses • Methods & Results • Site Location & Description • %C & C Content • C Fractions (Active, Stable, Passive) • Soil Respiration (RS) • Conclusions

4. The Pedosphere Focus Lal, Kimble, and Follett, 1997

5. Why Study Carbon? tececo.com/sustainability.role_soil_sequestration.php

6. C Emissions Sources Sinks Sources carboncycle.aos.wisc.edu/land-uptake/ boston.com Sinks thew2o.net/ cargurus.com teara.govt.nz/en/atmosphere/1/1 oregrinder.com

7. Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) NRCS Kern, 1994; Johnson and Kern 2003; Amichev, 2003

8. Soil Drainage Classes – NRCS (8) Excessively Drained (ED) Somewhat excessively drained (SWED) Well drained (WD) Moderately well drained (MWD) Somewhat poorly drained (SWPD) Poorly drained (PD) Very poorly drained (VPD) Subaqueous (?) INCREASING W E T NESS soils.usda.gov/technical/handbook/contents/part618.html; Soil Survey Manual Ch. 3, MAPSS 2010

9. Maine Soil Drainage Classes Well 20% Excessively 3% Moderately Well 25% Somewhat Excessively 3% Very Poorly 10% Somewhat Poorly 19% Poorly 20% Source: NRCS

10. Wetland (Hydric) Soils nesoil.com/images/images.htm faculty.msmary.edu/envirothon/current/guide/soil_features_part_1.htm • Histosol • > 40 cm (16”) O.M. • VPD • Mineral • PD nesoil.com/images/images.htm • Histic epipedon • Mineral histic • VPD – PD

11. Hypotheses • soil wetness increases, SOC increases • (decreasing drainage) • %C, C content • PD > SWPD > MWD • CF > BLD • C Fractions • Passive: MWD > SWPD > PD • Passive: BLD > CF • RS • MWD > SWPD > PD start of season • SWPD > PD > MWD end of season • SWPD > MWD entire season

12. Site Location Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM)

13. Site Description Forest Types Soil Drainage Rock Outcrop Abram CF CF Lyman Lyman Tunbridge Tunbridge Abram Marlow Lyman Lyman Marlow Tunbridge • eastern hemlock • northern white • cedar • eastern hemlock • northern white • cedar • red spruce • red spruce • balsam fir Tunbridge Berkshire Lyman Marlow Dixfield Loose Glacial Till Tunbridge Dixfield Colonel Colonel Dense Glacial Till BLD BLD Brayton SWPD PD MWD Brayton Gneiss, Schist, Granite and/or Phyllite Bedrock Dense Glacial Till Gneiss, Schist, Granite and/or Phyllite Bedrock Brayton: loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, frigid, shallow Aeric Endoaquepts Colonel : loamy, isotic, frigid, shallow Aquic Haplorthods Tunbridge: coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid, Typic Haplorthods Dixfield: coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid, Aquic Haplorthods • American beech • sugar maple • paper birch • sugar maple • paper birch • yellow birch • yellow birch • red maple • sugar maple Peacham • Parent Material: non-calcareous compact Wisconsinan age basal till dominated by mica schist, phyllite, granite and gneiss • Elevations: 165 - 470 m • Aspect: Southeasterly • Slopes: Higher: steeps/benches, 31% avg. Lower: gentler, 15%. avg. Adapted from : NRCS, Franklin County, ME Soil Survey

14. Experimental Design Soil Drainage & Forest Type Soil Drainage Classes (3) MWD (6) SWPD (6) PD (6) CF BLD CF BLD CF BLD

15. Plot Design 71 cm 71 cm 15 m RS ,TAIR, TSOIL, GSM - Monthly, May-Nov. HWEC: O horizon, 0-5 cm (late May, July, late October 15 m

16. Quantitative Excavations • O horizon • 0-5 • 5-25 • 25-50 • 50-C • C • Digging • Weighing • Sieving Canary et al., 2000

17. Sample Processing • Greenhouse drying (1-2 weeks) • Sieving, weighing, moisture content • Soil physical-chemical analysis • %C • Total Soil C Content Calculation • Total C • of • Increment • (kg ha-1) • %C • 100 • oven dry fine earth increment mass • (kg ha-1) • * • = • 1000 kg ha-1 = 1 Mg ha-1

18. Statistical Analysis • Statistical analysis conducted with R • Levene Test for homogeneity of variance • Shapiro-Wilk normality test • Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) • %C, C Content, C Fractions • Tukey HSD multiple comparison of means • Repeated measures ANOVA • Rs • Significant differences reported p < 0.05

19. C Concentration (%C) Soil Drainage Class Forest Type A A A A A a a a b b M O M O M M M O O O MWD SWPD PD CF BLD

20. %C with Depth – Soil Drainage a b b

21. %C with Depth – Forest Type

22. C Content Soil Drainage Class Forest Type A a A a a B a AB a a a a B a a a ab b ?

23. Summary • SOC was different • among soil drainage classes, but not as expected • forest types • O Horizon: NSD • Mineral Soil • MWD > SWPD, PD • Entire Soil (O horizon + mineral) • Drainage: MWD > PD • Forest : CF > BLD

24. Why? • Greater ecosystem productivity – belowground • roots: MWD > PD • numerical data from QP • qualitative pedon descriptions effective rooting depth

25. C Fractionation Mineral Soil • Active • labile, or active (< 2 yrs) • Stable • intermediate (>2 - < 100’s yrs) • Passive • recalcitrant, extremely resistant C (>100’s yrs) (Stevenson, 1994; Boyer and Groffman, 1996; Zsolnay, 2003) (Leavitt et al., 1996; Paul et al., 2006; D’Angelo et al, 2009) (Martel and Paul, 1974; Sollins et al.,1999; MacLauchlan and Hobbie, 2004)

26. C Fractionation – Sequential Extraction • Active C Fraction – HWEC (Ghani et al. 2003; D’Angelo et al. 2009) • Air dry soil in 50 ml tubes: 1:10 for O horizon, 1:2 mineral • Tubes in 80˚C for 16h • 0.4 µm polycarbonate filters • Measure TC w/ Shimadzu TOC 5050 • Oven dry residue overnight • Passive Fraction – Acid Hydrolysis (Sollins et al., 1999; D’Angelo) • 1 g soil w/ 6 M HCl. 1:20 organics, 1:10 mineral • Refluxed for 16 hrs in digestion tube at 116◦C • Filtered through Whatman no. 50 • Oven dry residue overnight, send to lab for %C • Stable Fraction = • (%C Original Sample) - (Passive %C) – (Active %C)

27. C Fractions Proportion of Total C

28. C Fractions - %C a a b b b b b a b

29. C Fractions – C Content a a BLD a a a a b b a b a b b a b a a b

30. Why? • Similar aerobic conditions in upper soil horizons • March • April • May • June • July • August • September • October • November • Zone of saturation • Seasonal HWT • Zone of saturation • Seasonal HWT • Zone of saturation • Seasonal HWT

31. Soil Respiration (Rs) Methods • Collars installed March-April 2010 (5” PVC pipe) • Monthly measurements w/ Li-Cor 6400-09 • May-June until Oct.-Nov. • Total 72 collars for this study – 3 days • (4/plot * 3 plots/drainage * 2 forest types) • 3 days of measurement • measurements 8am-1pm • Additional variables measured • Gravimetric soil moisture (GSM) - O & 0-5 cm • Air temp (TAIR) • Soil temp – top 10 cm (TSOIL) • Seasonal HWEC

32. Soil Respiration (b) (a) (ab)

33. Conclusions • SOC different - soil drainage classes & forest types • MWD > SWPD, PD • CF > BLD • belowground productivity (roots) & coarse fragments • wetland type matters (O vs. mineral) • Similar SOC dynamics in aerobic near surface soil • - distribution of C in fractions similar drainage/forest • Some imperfectly drained soils (SWPD, PD) could be • robust to extremes in moisture stress • Complexity of forested landscapes • soil drainage, forest types, parent material, wetland type, land use history

34. Acknowledgements • Chris, Sara, Morgan, Sarah, Ben • Cheryl Spencer • Bruce Hoskins, Analytical Lab • Mike, Farrah, Andrea, Sarah, Erin • Chris Dorion • Dr. Ivan Fernandez • Anja Whittington • Hope • Hopkins • Sean Hutchinson • Matt • Labonty • Nick • Berry

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