RT Journal Article
T1 Thermodynamics of soil organic matter decomposition in semi-natural oak (Quercus) woodland in southwest Ireland
A1 Barros Pena, Nieves
A1 Fernández Piñeiro, Irene
A1 Byrne, Ken A.
A1 Jovani-Sancho A. Jonay, 
A1 Ros Mangriñán, Eva
A1 Hansen, Lee D.
K1 Calorespirometry
K1 Oak
K1 Organic matter
K1 Soil
K1 Thermal analysis
K1 Thermodynamics
AB The evolution of soil terrestrial ecosystems is a subject with difficulties to define their maturity and evolutionary state. In the last century, thermodynamics was one of the options considered by ecologists for that goal. Difficulties in quantifying the thermodynamic parameters needed by the evolutionary theories caused that this subject has been practically locked since the end of the last century. Application of thermodynamics needs reactions and one of the main reactions in soil ecosystems are those involved in the decomposition of the soil organic matter. This paper aims to provide an initial step to study those reactions from a thermodynamic perspective. With that goal in mind, thermal analysis and isothermal calorespirometric measurements were made on soil samples collected at three depths in semi-natural oak woodlands at three different sites in southwest Ireland. It is assumed that the organic matter evolves from a less to a higher mature state as soil depth increases. The maturity state could be chemically defined by the redox state. The proposed methods yield the enthalpy change, Gibbs energy change and entropy change for the microbial catabolism and combustion reactions of the soil organic matter. The degree of reduction was calculated by the enthalpy changes. Results show the soil organic matter becomes more reduced from the soil organic surface to mineral soils. The top layer is characterized by high carbon content, organic materials with low energy content per Cmole, and fast biodegradation rates. Mineral soils are characterized by low carbon content, organic materials with high energy content per Cmole, and slow biodegradation rates. Values obtained for the entropy change were sensitive to these differences among the different soil layers. These results contribute to unlock the thermodynamics of the soil reactions and to develop the bioenergetics of soil ecosystems
PB Wiley on behalf of Nordic Society OIKOS
SN 0030-1299
YR 2020
FD 2020-07-04
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/44009
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/44009
LA eng
NO Barros, N., Fernandez, I., Byrne, K.A., Jovani-Sancho, A.J., Ros-Mangriñan, E. and Hansen, L.D. (2020), Thermodynamics of soil organic matter decomposition in semi-natural oak (Quercus) woodland in southwest Ireland. Oikos, 129: 1632-1644. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.07261
NO This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [Oikos. 129:1632-1644, 2020.], which has been published in final form at [https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.07261]. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited
NO Although the author's research group received no specific funding for this work, the IIAG-CSIC research group ‘Ciclo biogeoquímico del carbono edáfico – CibiCed’ was partially funded by the ‘Consellería de Economía, Emprego e Industria’ of the Galician Government (OTR02794/AGI/CISIC I+D+I 2016, OTR04174/AGI/CISIC I+D+I 2017)
DS Minerva
RD 27 abr 2026