The Impact of Single Trees on Properties of Loess-Derived Grassland Soils in Argentina

• Published in: Ecology (Durham) Vol. 81; no. 12; pp. 3283 - 3290
• Main Authors: Amiotti, N. M., Zalba, P., Sanchez, L. F., Peinemann, N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Ecological Society of America 01-12-2000
• Subjects: Acid soils; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Argentina; Biological and medical sciences; Ecology; Forest ecosystems; Forest soils; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Grassland soils; Grasslands; Influence; landscape fragmentation; Loess soils; Mineral soils; Pinus radiata; Soil ecology; soil genesis; Soil horizons; Soils; soil–vegetation effects; surface acidification; Synecology; Terrestrial ecosystems; Tree trunks; Trees; South America; Argentina; America; Loess; Litter; Bark; Acidification; Property of soil; Pinus radiata; Silicates; Gymnospermae; Softwood forest tree; pH; Coniferales; Spermatophyta; Habitat; Soil plant relation; Physicochemical properties; Grassland soil
• ISSN: 0012-9658; 1939-9170
• DOI: 10.1890/0012-9658(2000)081[3283:TIOSTO]2.0.CO;2

The effect of single-tree influence areas on the physicochemical properties of the soil surface mineral horizon (0-18 cm) was studied in three stands of Pinus radiata D. Don introduced into Sierra de la Ventana, Argentina, grasslands 50 yr ago. Soil samples were taken at distances of 0, 1, and 2 m in transects from the tree to the periphery of the crown. Adjacent grassland soils with mollic epipedons were used as controls. Soil alteration was found to be highest near the trunk, with clear evidence of acid hydrolysis of primary silicates; the epipedon close to the trunk was classified as umbric rather than mollic. Decreasing values of pH, Ca, and exchangeable Mg, and increasing values of exchangeable H and Al, and also of fulvic acid-complexed Al, were registered from the grassland toward the axes of the trees. The soil properties analyzed fall into a distinctive spatial pattern of radial symmetry around each individual tree, with systematic and predictable variations, thus confirming the validity of the concept of "single-tree influence circles" for the study area. Each stand of P. radiata generates a patch of soil alteration within the undisturbed habitat matrix; the internal structure of these patches shows a radial pattern of different polypedons spatially and genetically associated with the inner ring of bark litter and the outer ring of leaf and twig litter. The present work shows that the introduction of P. radiata triggered changes in the evolutionary trend of the soils of such magnitude as to be reflected at the highest taxonomic level in soil taxonomy.