The assessment of the soil organic matter of different ecosystems according to parameters of carbon

Abstract

In this study, the differences in the assessment of the soil organic matter (SOM) of 8 soils (Eutric Fluvisol, Mollic Fluvisol, Haplic Chernozem, Haplic Luvisol, Eutric Cambisol, Rendzic Leptosol, Eutric Regosol, and Dystric Planosol) of different ecosystems (forest, meadow, urban, and agro-ecosystem) in Slovakia were compared. The quantity and quality of the SOM was assessed through the parameters of carbon in the total volume of soil and in the fractions of soil aggregates. The significant differences in the parameters of carbon between the ecosystems are more visible in the case of its assessment in the soil aggregates than in the total volume of soil and the results are influenced by the nature of SOM stabilization. The highest contents of total organic carbon (TOC) and labile carbon (CL) in the total volume of soil were in the forest ecosystem, but more significant differences in the contents of TOC and CL between the other ecosystems were determined only in the soil aggregates. The urban ecosystem > meadow ecosystem > agro-ecosystem followed then, and the most stabilized carbon was in the urban ecosystem. TOC and CL had higher portions in larger fractions of aggregates (>2 mm) that had the highest proportion in the meadow ecosystems.