Effects of acid and neutral sulfate salt solutions on forest floor arthropods

Journal Article · · J. Environ. Qual.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5888302

Craft, C B; Webb, J W

Acidic and neutral SO/sub 4//sup 2 -/ solutions were applied to a mixed oak (Quercus spp.) forest floor on Walker Branch Watershed in eastern Tennessee to study effects of increased acid deposition on decomposer arthropods and arthropod regulation of P cycling. Treatments consisted of ambient (no applications), 2 x (low), and 10 x (high) annual atmospheric inputs of SO/sub 4//sup 2 -/ (as K/sub 2/SO/sub 4/) and H/sup +/ plus SO/sub 4//sup 2 -/ (as KHSO/sub 4/). Arthropods were sampled monthly in litter and mineral soil. Soils were analyzed for Bray No. 2P and for salt pH, NH/sub 4/Cl exchangeable Al/sup 3 +/ and K/sup +/, and water-extractable SO/sub 4//sup 2 -/. Over a 14-month period, the number of forest floor macroarthropods averaged 19% lower in the high SO/sub 4//sup 2 -/ salt treatment compared with the control. Macroarthropod fungivores also were adversely affected by the high SO/sub 4//sup 2 -/ salt treatment and by the high and the low KHSO/sub 4/ treatments. The effects of the high SO/sub 4//sup 2 -/ treatment on macroarthropods may have resulted from a salt effect caused by the concentrated K/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ applications. Microarthropod numbers increased significantly in response to the low K/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ additions and to the high and low KHSO/sub 4/ treatments. Microarthropod fungivores, predators, and detritivores responded similarly. Comparison of microarthropod densities and soil K/sup +/ concentrations suggested that the response resulted from a direct fertilizer effect of K/sup +/ on arthropods or indirectly from an effect on micro-organisms. Analysis of litter leachate during a single treatment interval (5 weeks) indicated that only 31% of the H/sup +/ applied in the high KHSO/sub 4/ treatment reached the mineral soil.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 5888302
• Journal Information: J. Environ. Qual.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Environ. Qual.; (United States) Vol. 13:3; ISSN JEVQA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

510200* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ACID RAIN
AIR POLLUTION
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ANIMALS
ARTHROPODS
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
CATIONS
CHARGED PARTICLES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
DATA
DECOMPOSITION
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FOREST LITTER
FORESTS
INFORMATION
INVERTEBRATES
IONS
MATERIALS
MINERAL CYCLING
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PH VALUE
PHOSPHORUS
POLLUTION
POPULATION DENSITY
POTASSIUM COMPOUNDS
RAIN
SAMPLING
SIMULATION
SOIL CHEMISTRY
SOILS
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TOXICITY