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THE MOBILIZATION OF IRON BY EXTRACTS OF EUCALYPTUS LEAF LITTER
Author(s) -
ELLIS R. C.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.244
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2389
pISSN - 0022-4588
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1971.tb01589.x
Subject(s) - chemistry , eucalyptus , ferric , humus , plant litter , podzol , litter , anhydrous , environmental chemistry , radiata , ferric iron , organic matter , botany , soil water , inorganic chemistry , agronomy , ecology , organic chemistry , biology , nutrient , vigna , ferrous
Summary When aqueous extracts of leaf litter from four closely related Eucalyptus species were reacted with soil material under aerobic conditions their iron mobilizing activity was found to be inversely related to the productivity of the sites on which the species grew. The activity of litter extracts of the four species grown in similar soils in the field was found to increase in the order E. regnans, E. obliqua, E. radiata, E. sieberiana . The results indicate that species‐soil interactions could be as important as inherent species characteristics in determining whether or not a species is a ‘podzol former’. The effect on the activity of the extracts of altering their pH before reaction with either soil or with prepared iron oxides suggests that, whereas organic acids could be mainly responsible for mobilizing iron from soil and from anhydrous ferric oxide, polyphenols could be more important than organic acids in mobilizing iron from hydrous ferric oxide. The pH and E h curves obtained when litter extracts were titrated with a ferric chloride solution showed that iron from this source was strongly reduced by the extracts at low pH.