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Evaluation of angiosperm and fern contributions to soil organic matter using two methods of pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

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Abstract

Background

Ferns are an important plant group, and older phylogenies of non-polypod ferns contain relatively high concentrations of aliphatic leaf waxes, lignins, and tannins that could contribute to soil organic matter (SOM) biochemistry and stability.

Methods

Pyrolysis gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry (py-GC/MS) analyzes biochemical fragments which can be related to lignin, polysaccharide, lipid, nitrogen (N)-bearing, non-lignin aromatics, and phenol source compounds. Thermochemolysis using tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) combined with py-GC/MS improves detection of lignin, cutin, and suberin-derived compounds. To examine the advantages and disadvantages of both methods for characterizing plant and soil biochemistry, we characterized non-polypod and polypod fern and angiosperm live tissues, roots and soils from the Kohala Mountains, Hawaii.

Results

Py-GC/MS provided a broad biochemical overview of compound groups including lignin, polysaccharide, lipid, N-bearing, non-lignin aromatics and phenol groups while TMAH-py-GC/MS detailed lignin units and fatty acids at the expense of the other categories. TMAH-py-GC/MS provided more detailed data on lignin, cutin, suberin and tannin-derived compounds. Both methods detected differences in lignin units between species, although p-coumaric and ferulic acids, predominantly found in ferns, were only observed with TMAH-py-GC/MS.

Conclusions

Both py-GC/MS and TMAH-py-GC/MS are methods to detect compound-specific plant biomarkers, but are most useful when combined for their complimentary results.

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Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges Jason Neff, Karolien Denef, Liz Pruessner, Abigail Stewart, Brendan Young as well as two anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. Daniel Fernandez gave invaluable help with the py-GC/MS instrument and Cody Flagg for sample preparation. I also wish to thank Heraldo Farrington, Ted Raab, and Rebecca Funk for assistance with field sampling. This work was funded by the University of Colorado Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship and NSF DEB-0515918.

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  1. Soil Plant Nutrient Research, USDA-ARS, 2150 Centre Ave, Building D, Suite 100, Fort Collins, CO, 80526-8119, USA

    Catherine E. Stewart

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  1. Catherine E. Stewart
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Correspondence to Catherine E. Stewart.

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Responsible Editor: Hans Lambers.

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Esm 1

Library of py-GC/MS products used to identify live, root, and soil samples for Cibotium, Dicranopteris, Diplazium, Cheirodendron and Metrosideros. All spectra were identified from primary ions based on literature (Buurman et al. 2007; Chefetz et al. 2000; Chefetz et al. 2002; Chiavari and Galletti 1992; Faix et al. 1987; Gallois et al. 2007; Gleixner et al. 2002; Gonzalez-Perez et al. 2007; Steinbeiss et al. 2006) and external standards (PDF 131 kb)

Esm 2

Library of TMAH-py-GC/MS products used to identify py-GC/MS samples live, root, and soil samples for Cibotium, Dicranopteris, Diplazium, Cheirodendron and Metrosideros. All spectra were identified from primary ions based on literature (Chefetz et al. 2002; del Rio et al. 2007; Filley et al. 2006; Gleixner et al. 2002; Nierop et al. 2005) and external standards (PDF 113 kb)

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Stewart, C.E. Evaluation of angiosperm and fern contributions to soil organic matter using two methods of pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Plant Soil 351, 31–46 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-011-0927-3

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