Neutral Sugar Content and Composition as a Sensitive Indicator of Fire Severity in the Andisols of an Araucaria–Nothofagus Forest in Southern Chile

Yessica Rivas, Jorge Retamal-Salgado, Heike Knicker, Francisco Matus and Diego Rivera
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Yessica Rivas: Facultad de Ingeniería y Negocios, Universidad Adventista de Chile, km 12 Camino a Tanilvoro, Chillán 3780000, Chile
Jorge Retamal-Salgado: Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, INIA-Quilamapu, Avenida Vicente Méndez 515, Chillán 3800062, Chile
Heike Knicker: Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS-CSIC), Reina Mercedes Av., 10, 41012 Seville, Spain
Francisco Matus: Laboratory of Conservation and Dynamics of Volcanic Soils, Department of Chemical Sciences and Natural Resources, Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad de La Frontera, Avenida Francisco Salazar 01145, Temuco 4780000, Chile
Diego Rivera: Centro de Sustentabilidad y Gestión Estratégica de Recursos (CiSGER), Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad del Desarrollo, Las Condes 7610658, Chile

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-14

Abstract: Wildfire induces soil alterations that have a long-term impact on soil organic matter (SOM) quality. We postulated that after different fire severities, the neutral sugars in soils can be used as an indicator of soil organic matter quality after fire. The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of neutral sugar, bulk and occluded particulate organic matter (oPOM) affected by wildfire, at different soil depths in an Araucaria–Nothofagus Forest, four years post-after fire. The concentration and composition of the neutral sugars in the soils clearly comprised the major fraction in the unburned soil. Medium- and high-severity fires caused a drastic reduction in soil sugars in the bulk soil as well as in the oPOM fractions. The 13 C-CPMAS NMR spectroscopy analysis revealed a high contribution of recalcitrant carbon to the decomposition such as aryl–C and aryl–O derived from charred material, whereas the abundance of O–alkyl C and alkyl C functional groups were decreased. The neutral sugars (Galactose+Mannose/Xilose+Arabinose) revealed a major microbial origin in fire affected areas as the ratio was >2. Therefore. Therefore, we suggest that the neutral sugar content of soil should be used for monitoring both short- and long-term changes in SOM altered by fires.

Keywords: non-cellulosic carbohydrates; 13 C NMR; forest fires; oPOM fractions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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