Research Library Bulletins 4000 - Research Publications 3-2011 Native vegetation in Western Australia is actively involved with soil formation Doug Sawkins William H. Verboom University of Western Australia John S. Pate University of Western Australia Follow this and additional works at: https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins Part of the Soil Science Commons Recommended Citation Sawkins, D, Verboom, W H, and Pate, J S. (2011), Native vegetation in Western Australia is actively involved with soil formation. Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia, Perth. Bulletin 4823. This bulletin is brought to you for free and open access by the Research Publications at Research Library. It has been accepted for inclusion in Bulletins 4000 - by an authorized administrator of Research Library. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Bulletin 4823 ISSN 1833-7236 Native vegetation in Western Australia is actively involved in soil formation Native vegetation in Western Australia is actively involved in soil formation By Doug Sawkins1, William H Verboom1,2, and John S Pate2 1. Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (Narrogin Office) 2. University of Western Australia, Perth March 2011 IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER The Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Agriculture and the State of Western Australia accept no liability whatsoever by reason of negligence or otherwise arising from the use or release of this information or any part of it. This publication may be reproduced in whole or part provided that acknowledgement to Department of Agriculture, citing full publication details (series information, author, title, year) is included. © State of Western Australia, 2011 March 2011 Table of contents Page Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Competition for nutrients ......................................................................................... 4 Competition for water................................................................................................. 11 Competition for space................................................................................................ 14 Bioengineering in action ......................................................................................... 20 Wider ramifications of the phytotarium concept ................................................... 22 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 24 References ................................................................................................................ 24 Glossary .................................................................................................................... 26 i March 2011 Introduction Many adverse situations in Western Australian agriculture have arisen because in the past we cleared native perennial vegetation below safe ecological limits in order to grow annual crops and pasture. In retrospect, we did not fully understand the functioning of the native ecosystems concerned and thus did not foresee the long-term consequences. Research into the survival techniques of native species provides important lessons for future farming. By understanding the behaviour of plants and soils we can maximise their use in a sustainable way. Knowledge of the water acquisition and storage strategies of native plants in seasonally dry areas may be critically important to reducing the impact of farming practices on land degradation and associated threats to biodiversity. Longer term applications of the research described in this bulletin may be the development of agricultural systems more in tune with native soils, leading to improvements in water-use efficiency, reduced recharge and salinity, and more economic and sustainable agriculture. Research has demonstrated that soil and landscape formation in Western Australia has been largely driven by the recently advanced ‘phytotarium concept’ (Verboom & Pate 2006a). We define this concept as the system whereby major plant species and their microbial associates bioengineer the soil profiles in which they occur to their own advantage so that they can monopolise water and nutrients. This not only supports their own survival but also determines the direction of ecosystem evolution in their particular geographical and climatic region. The concept of a biological (or organic) basis of soil formation is not new (Buol et al. 1980; Jenny 1941) but it has languished in the wake of theories of inorganic soil formation put forward in the latter half of the 20th century. We outline the major differences in Table 1. Table 1 Comparison between inorganic theories of soil formation and the phytotarium concept Inorganic theories Phytotarium (organic) concept Laterites are either the end product of humid tropical Certain plants and associated microbes mine iron and weathering of rocks and/or the consequence of other elements and precipitate them in the B horizon alternating oxidation and reduction processes. where they continue to be reworked during phosphorus cycling. Erosion of laterites has exposed underlying layers, While this may be true in general, many complex thereby creating regular down-slope sequences (or patterns appear to be insensitive to topography and catenas) of soils, any one of which would eventually may have been driven by purely biotic forces. become colonised by a specific group of plant communities best adapted to that particular soil setting. The build-up of salts has caused physical movement Evidence of microbial involvement in clay formation is of clay downward through the soil, forming duplex clear. See the origins of the B horizon clay in Table 2. soils. Table 2 summarises major features of soil formation that have not been adequately explained by inorganic theories but that are consistent with the phytotarium concept. 1 Native vegetation in Western Australia is actively involved in soil formation Table 2 Major soil formation features with corresponding phytotarium concept explanation Soil formation feature Explanation Page Sudden emergence of new clay The emergence and increasing production of clays such as 3 minerals and soil types in the kaolinites and montmorillonites mirrors the emergence and evolutionary record evolution of plant life on land, their increasingly complex forms and interactive associations with other biota and the earth’s mantle. See Verboom & Pate 2011 (in preparation). Close relationship between plant Plants construct particular soil types to support their survival 4,11 and soil geography—often strategy. restricted to particular regions of the world Gradation from one soil type to Competing vegetation communities deliberately construct 14, 16 another across the same land contrasting phytotaria (soil types) to support their survival surface and over the same parent strategy. material Examples from WA include gradations between any of the following soil types: sodic duplexes, calcareous soils, laterites and podzols (soils with iron and aluminium concentration but without hard gravels or ironstone) Soils transgress each other by Invading communities overprint phytotaria of previous 16 ‘overprinting’ (newer soil creates communities. differing characteristics over older soils) Chemical reactions (particularly in Biotically mediated chemical reactions can be exceedingly 6 the A and B soil horizons) don’t complex. conform to simple inorganic reactions Concentration of chelatable Concentration can be explained by biologically sponsored 8 elements such as thorium in newly organic acid secretions and transport. formed clays and ferricretes Origin of clays in many texture Plants can mine, transport and precipitate metallic elements 8, 14,20 contrast soils including podzols such as iron and alumnium in chelated form. Microbial life feeds on secreted metal-chelate complexes and control how metals precipitate out (as a specific type of clay, oxide coating or crete). Remarkably uniform A and B Plants and microbes continually repair the phytotaria. 6 horizons in soils across entire landscapes despite millennia of erosion and deposition Relationship between vegetation, A Element pumping by plants causes vertical segregation of (for 22 and B horizons and pH of example) basic cations from lower acid groundwater. underlying groundwater Presence of podzols and texture Podzols and texture contrast soil types form in the rooting 20 contrast soils around the boles of catchment of these woody species. individual trees This bulletin shows how new insights into biological functions of woody plants and their associated microorganisms provide a viable alternative to entrenched inorganic theories. 2 March 2011 We explain how plants have actively shaped our soil and landscapes, and discuss the implications for modern agriculture and resource management. A fuller description of the concepts and evidence advanced in this bulletin can be found in the papers cited in the references. Soil formation over geological time There is ample evidence that increasingly complex forms and interactive associations of life have affected atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial conditions throughout geological time and have in turn shaped soil-forming processes (Verboom and Pate in press). The biological manipulation of geological elements such as iron (Fe) in soil was already on stage two billion years ago when the earth