Variation of Free Amino Acids in Soil Water of Tropical Rainforests on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo

Kanehiro KITAYAMA; Luiza MAJUAKIM

doi:10.51200/jtbc.v23i.7296

Authors

Kanehiro KITAYAMA Faculty of Tropical Forestry, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6863-7118
Luiza MAJUAKIM Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51200/jtbc.v23i.7296

Keywords:

free amino acids, nutrient cycling, N mineralization, tropical rain forest soils, elevation

Abstract

Despite that free amino acids in soil water are an important precursor of inorganic nitrogen (N), little is known about their concentration and spatial variability in tropical rain forests. We investigated the concentration of free amino acids and NH₄⁺ in water extracts of soils from nine tropical rain forests which were widely different in elevation (700 to 3100 m) and soil type on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. Earlier studies indicated that net N mineralization rate was distinctly high in the two 700-m lowland forests and the 1800-m montane forest on Quaternary colluvial deposits, and consistently low in the other upland forests among the nine forests. Soils were collected from an organic horizon (0–5 cm) and a mineral horizon (5–15 cm) in each of the nine sites. Free amino acids in soil were analyzed by HPLC. Mean total N as amino acids (TNAA) ranged from 0.25 to 7.93 µg/g-dry soil in organic soils and generally decreased with increasing elevation except for the 1800-m montane forest on Quaternary colluvial deposits where mean TNAA and decay constant were outstandingly high. Mean quotient of TNAA to NH₄⁺-N was higher (>0.6) in the two lowland forests and in the Quaternary colluvial montane forest, while it was lower (<0.3) in the other upland forests. Our results suggest that slower decomposition of organic matter may retard the supply of amino acids for heterotrophic microbes, which becomes a bottle neck of downstream N mineralization in the upland forests.

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