Soil Organic Matter Molecular Composition Shifts Driven by Forest Regrowth or Pasture after Slash-and-Burn of Amazon Forest

16 páginas.- 4 figuras..- 74 referencias.- Supplementary Materials: The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/ijerph20043485/s1

Slash-and-burn of Amazon Forest (AF) for pasture establishment has increased the occurrence of AF wildfires. Recent studies emphasize soil organic matter (SOM) molecular composition as a principal driver of post-fire forest regrowth and restoration of AF anti-wildfire ambience. Nevertheless, SOM chemical shifts caused by AF fires and post-fire vegetation are rarely investigated at a molecular level. We employed pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry to reveal molecular changes in SOM (0–10, 40–50 cm depth) of a slash-burn-and-20-month-regrowth AF (BAF) and a 23-year Brachiaria pasture post-AF fire (BRA) site compared to native AF (NAF). In BAF (0–10 cm), increased abundance of unspecific aromatic compounds (UACs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and lipids (Lip) coupled with a depletion of polysaccharides (Pol) revealed strong lingering effects of fire on SOM. This occurs despite fresh litter deposition on soil, suggesting SOM minimal recovery and toxicity to microorganisms. Accumulation of recalcitrant compounds and slow decomposition of fresh forest material may explain the higher carbon content in BAF (0–5 cm). In BRA, SOM was dominated by Brachiaria contributions. At 40–50 cm, alkyl and hydroaromatic compounds accumulated in BRA, whereas UACs accumulated in BAF. UACs and PAH compounds were abundant in NAF, possibly air-transported from BAF.

N.T.J.-M. was supported by a “Ramón y Cajal” RYC2021-031253-I contract funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union (NextGenerationEU/PRTR). This research was funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, thematicproject number 08/04490-4); CNPq (project CT-Amazônia number 575795/2008-5), projects MarkFire (PAIDI2020, PY20_01073) co-funded by Junta Andalucía and EU FEDER funds and EROFIRE project (PCIF/RPG/0079/2018) funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal). NTJM thanks the FCT for the CEEC contract (2021/00711/CEECIND)

Peer reviewed