PurposeFire in mountainous areas can lead to increased variability of their soil organic matter (SOM) due to spatial inhomogeneity and pre-fire fuel distribution. Here, we elucidated if this was the case in our study area and how this affected the reliability of solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy applied for the study of the medium-term impact of fire on SOMMaterials and methodsThe study occurred in the Sierra de Aznalcóllar, Southern Spain, which experienced their last intense fire 7 years before sampling. In a first approach (method 1), the corners and the center of a randomly chosen square with a side length of 15 m were sampled and analyzed separately. For comparison, composite samples (method 2) were obtained from three soils. We characterized material from unburnt, burnt, and double burnt regions. Data describing the physical and chemical properties of the soils together with the NMR spectroscopic characterization were analyzed using ANOVA.Results and discussionBoth sampling methods yielded comparable results with comparable standard errors. No major differences between the fire-affected and unburnt soils were observed with respect to physical and chemical properties and C and N contents, but solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy indicated a small but significant elevation of aromaticity in the soils with fire history.ConclusionsThe analysis showed that sampling with reduced replicates (method 1) can still lead to representative NMR data. The more complex sampling of comparing three composite samples (method 2) did not decrease the standard error. Our results also indicate that in the study area typical properties of the soil and its SOM induced by former burnings will not persist beyond a few decades. |