Vegetation Effects on Soil Organic Matter Chemistry of Aggregate Fractions in a Hawaiian Forest

We examined chemical changes from leaf tissue to soil organic matter (SOM) to determine the persistence of plant chemistry into soil aggregate fractions. We characterized a slow (Dicranopteris linearis) and fast-decomposing species (Cheirodendron trigynum) and surface (O), and subsurface (A-horizon) SOM beneath each species using pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (py-GC/MS), with and without derivatization. The live tissues of...