TY - JOUR
T1 - Soil microbial activity is resistant to recreational camping disturbance in a Prosopis dominated semiarid savanna
AU - Kariuki, Sudan
AU - Gallery, Rachel E.
AU - Sparks, Jed P.
AU - Gimblett, Randy
AU - McClaran, Mitchel P.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are thankful for the many people who were involved in the development of this research: Dr. Jeffrey Fehmi served on the lead author's academic committee and provided feedback on early drafts of this paper. Damian Rawoot, Kelsey Landreville, Emma Jong, Mark Heitlinger, and Ed Hunt provided invaluable field and laboratory support. Dr. Jeffrey Oliver and Dr. Deniz Akdemir assisted with coding in R and statistical analysis. Spatial data sets were provided by the Santa Rita Experimental Range Digital Database. Funding for the digitization of these data was provided by USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and the University of Arizona.
Funding Information:
We are thankful for the many people who were involved in the development of this research: Dr. Jeffrey Fehmi served on the lead author's academic committee and provided feedback on early drafts of this paper. Damian Rawoot, Kelsey Landreville, Emma Jong, Mark Heitlinger, and Ed Hunt provided invaluable field and laboratory support. Dr. Jeffrey Oliver and Dr. Deniz Akdemir assisted with coding in R and statistical analysis. Spatial data sets were provided by the Santa Rita Experimental Range Digital Database. Funding for the digitization of these data was provided by USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and the University of Arizona. Appendix A
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2020/3
Y1 - 2020/3
N2 - Recreational camping has been shown to suppress plant cover and expand bare ground area. These shifts have important implications for soil health. We used campsites in a semiarid savanna at the Santa Rita Experimental Range (SRER) in Arizona to test the hypotheses that 1) recreational camping is a disturbance that limits plant cover and soil microbial activity, and 2) the presence of Prosopis, which is known to encourage a fertility island effect, increases soil microbial activity within campsites. Camping disturbance did not influence any sampled measures of edaphic properties, plant cover, or soil microbial biomass and exoenzyme activities. However, the presence of Prosopis resulted in elevated litter, total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Multiple linear regression models suggest that observed resistance of soil microbial activities to camping disturbance may be due to both increased availability of organic C and N substrates beneath Prosopis and heightened seasonal water availability.
AB - Recreational camping has been shown to suppress plant cover and expand bare ground area. These shifts have important implications for soil health. We used campsites in a semiarid savanna at the Santa Rita Experimental Range (SRER) in Arizona to test the hypotheses that 1) recreational camping is a disturbance that limits plant cover and soil microbial activity, and 2) the presence of Prosopis, which is known to encourage a fertility island effect, increases soil microbial activity within campsites. Camping disturbance did not influence any sampled measures of edaphic properties, plant cover, or soil microbial biomass and exoenzyme activities. However, the presence of Prosopis resulted in elevated litter, total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Multiple linear regression models suggest that observed resistance of soil microbial activities to camping disturbance may be due to both increased availability of organic C and N substrates beneath Prosopis and heightened seasonal water availability.
KW - Biogeochemistry
KW - Extracellular enzyme activity (EEA)
KW - Fertility island
KW - Microbial biomass
KW - Nitrogen
KW - Recreation impact
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U2 - 10.1016/j.apsoil.2019.103424
DO - 10.1016/j.apsoil.2019.103424
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85075437367
VL - 147
JO - Applied Soil Ecology
JF - Applied Soil Ecology
SN - 0929-1393
M1 - 103424
ER -