Determination of Soil Contamination at the Wildland-Urban Interface after the 2021 Marshall Fire in Colorado, USA.

Wildfires at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) are increasingly common. The impacts of such events are likely distinct from those that occur strictly in wildland areas, as we would expect an elevated likelihood of soil contamination due to the combustion of anthropogenic materials. We evaluated the impacts of a wildfire at the WUI on soil contamination, sampling soils from residential and nonresidential areas located inside and outside the perimeter of the 2021 Marshall Fire in Colorado, USA. We found that fire-affected residential properties had elevated concentrations of some heavy metals (including Zn, Cu, Cr, and Pb), but the concentrations were still below levels of likely concern, and we observed no corresponding increases in concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The postfire increases in metal concentrations were not generally observed in the nonresidential soils, highlighting the importance of combustion of anthropogenic materials for potential soil contamination from wildfires at the WUI. While soil contamination from the 2021 Marshall Fire was lower than expected, and likely below the threshold of concern for human health, our study highlights some of the challenges that need to be considered when assessing soil contamination after such fires.

Agricultural Sulfur Applications Alter the Quantity and Composition of Dissolved Organic Matter from Field-to-Watershed Scales.

Over the past several decades, agricultural sulfur (S) use has dramatically increased. Excess S in the environment can cause several biogeochemical and ecologic consequences, including methylmercury production. This study investigated agriculturally associated changes to organic S─the most dominant form of S within soils─from field-to-watershed scales. Using a novel complementary suite of analytical methods, we combined Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry, δ34S-DOS, and S X-ray absorption spectroscopy to characterize dissolved organic S (DOS) in soil porewater and surface water samples from vineyard agriculture (S addition) and forest/grassland areas (no S addition) within the Napa River watershed (California, U.S.). Vineyard soil porewater dissolved organic matter samples had two-fold higher S content compared to forest/grasslands and had unique CHOS2 chemical formulas─the latter also found in tributary and Napa River surface water. The isotopic difference between δ34S-DOS and δ34S-SO42- values provided insights into the likely dominant microbial S processes by land use/land cover (LULC), whereas the S oxidation state did not strongly differ by LULC. The results add to our understanding of the modern S cycle and point to upland agricultural areas as S sources with the potential for rapid S transformations in downgradient environments.

Interactions between tall oatgrass invasion and soil nitrogen cycling.

Increases in nitrogen (N) inputs to the biosphere can exacerbate the introduction and spread of invasive non-native plant species. Often, with elevated soil N levels, invasive plants establish and further enrich soil N pools, changing overall ecosystem function. This study examined the relationship between soil N cycling and an increasingly prevalent, invasive plant species, tall oatgrass (Arrhenatherum elatius subsp. elatius), in foothills ecosystems between the Colorado Rocky Mountains and the Denver-Boulder Metropolitan area-similar to many Western US grasslands and woodlands. It focused on investigating differences in soil N transformations, inorganic N pools, and vegetation characteristics across invaded and uninvaded plots at three sites in two seasons (summer and autumn). There was a statistically significant effect of invasion on rates of net N mineralization, but it was dependent on site and season (p = 0.046). Site had a statistically significant effect on soil moisture and aboveground biomass C:N (p < 0.04). The interactions of invasion x site were statistically significant for ammonium pools (p < 0.03). These findings suggest that A. elatius invasion can be associated with accelerated N cycling, but that the nature of the relationship differs by location and season in the foothills. More broadly, this study contributes to determining how the N cycle is shifting in grassland ecosystems subject to increasing pressures from anthropogenic change.

Fates and fingerprints of sulfur and carbon following wildfire in economically important croplands of California, U.S.

Sulfur (S) is widely used in agriculture, yet little is known about its fates within upland watersheds, particularly in combination with disturbances like wildfire. Our study examined the effects of land use and wildfire on the biogeochemical "fingerprints," or the quantity and chemical composition, of S and carbon (C). We conducted our research within the Napa River Watershed, California, U.S., where high S applications to vineyards are common, and ~ 20% of the watershed burned in October 2017, introducing a disturbance now common across the warmer, drier Western U.S. We used a laboratory rainfall experiment to compare unburned and low severity burned vineyard and grassland soils. We then sampled streams draining sub-catchments with differing land use and degrees of burn and burn severity to understand combined effects at broader spatial scales. Before the laboratory experiment, vineyard soils had 2-3.5 times more S than grassland soils, while burned soils-regardless of land use-had 1.5-2 times more C than unburned soils. During the laboratory experiment, vineyard soil leachates had 16-20 times more S than grassland leachates, whereas leachate C was more variable across land use and burn soil types. Unburned and burned vineyard soils leached S with δ34S values enriched 6-15‰ relative to grassland soils, likely due to microbial S processes within vineyard soils. Streams draining vineyards also had the fingerprint of agricultural S, with ~2-5 fold higher S concentrations and ~ 10‰ enriched δ34S-SO42- values relative to streams draining non-agricultural areas. However, streams draining a higher fraction of burned non-agricultural areas also had enriched δ34S values relative to unburned non-agricultural areas, which we attribute to loss of 32S during combustion. Our findings illustrate the interacting effects of wildfire and land use on watershed S and C cycling-a new consideration under a changing climate, with significant implications for ecosystem function and human health.

Effects of Spatial Variability and Relic DNA Removal on the Detection of Temporal Dynamics in Soil Microbial Communities.

Few studies have comprehensively investigated the temporal variability in soil microbial communities despite widespread recognition that the belowground environment is dynamic. In part, this stems from the challenges associated with the high degree of spatial heterogeneity in soil microbial communities and because the presence of relic DNA (DNA from dead cells or secreted extracellular DNA) may dampen temporal signals. Here, we disentangle the relationships among spatial, temporal, and relic DNA effects on prokaryotic and fungal communities in soils collected from contrasting hillslopes in Colorado, USA. We intensively sampled plots on each hillslope over 6 months to discriminate between temporal variability, intraplot spatial heterogeneity, and relic DNA effects on the soil prokaryotic and fungal communities. We show that the intraplot spatial variability in microbial community composition was strong and independent of relic DNA effects and that these spatial patterns persisted throughout the study. When controlling for intraplot spatial variability, we identified significant temporal variability in both plots over the 6-month study. These microbial communities were more dissimilar over time after relic DNA was removed, suggesting that relic DNA hinders the detection of important temporal dynamics in belowground microbial communities. We identified microbial taxa that exhibited shared temporal responses and show that these responses were often predictable from temporal changes in soil conditions. Our findings highlight approaches that can be used to better characterize temporal shifts in soil microbial communities, information that is critical for predicting the environmental preferences of individual soil microbial taxa and identifying linkages between soil microbial community composition and belowground processes.IMPORTANCE Nearly all microbial communities are dynamic in time. Understanding how temporal dynamics in microbial community structure affect soil biogeochemistry and fertility are key to being able to predict the responses of the soil microbiome to environmental perturbations. Here, we explain the effects of soil spatial structure and relic DNA on the determination of microbial community fluctuations over time. We found that intensive spatial sampling was required to identify temporal effects in microbial communities because of the high degree of spatial heterogeneity in soil and that DNA from nonliving sources masks important temporal patterns. We identified groups of microbes with shared temporal responses and show that these patterns were predictable from changes in soil characteristics. These results provide insight into the environmental preferences and temporal relationships between individual microbial taxa and highlight the importance of considering relic DNA when trying to detect temporal dynamics in belowground communities.

Transformations, transport, and potential unintended consequences of high sulfur inputs to Napa Valley vineyards.

Unintended anthropogenic deposition of sulfur (S) to forest ecosystems has a range of negative consequences, identified through decades of research. There has been far less study of purposeful S use in agricultural systems around the world, including the application of elemental sulfur (S(0)) as a quick-reacting fungicide to prevent damage to crops. Here we report results from a three-year study of the transformations and flows of applied S(0) in soils, vegetation, and hydrologic export pathways of Napa Valley, CA vineyards, documenting that all applied S is lost from the vineyard ecosystem on an annual basis. We found that S(0) oxidizes rapidly to sulfate ( ) on the soil surface where it then accumulates over the course of the growing season. Leaf and grape tissues accounted for only 7-13% of applied S whereas dormant season cover crops accounted for 4-10% of applications. Soil S inventories were largely and ester-bonded sulfates; they decreased from 1,623 ± 354 kg ha(-1) during the dry growing season to 981 ± 526 kg ha(-1) (0-0.5 m) during the dormant wet season. Nearly all S applied to the vineyard soils is transported offsite in dissolved oxidized forms during dormant season rainstorms. Thus, the residence time of reactive S is brief in these systems, and largely driven by hydrology. Our results provide new insight into how S use in vineyards constitutes a substantial perturbation of the S cycle in Northern California winegrowing regions and points to the unintended consequences that agricultural S use may have at larger scales.