ABSTRACT

Soil is both a chemically and biologically complex environment of great ecological importance. It is the primary store of terrestrial carbon (C) and is one of the most actively cycling pools of carbon (Schlesinger 1997; Manzoni and Porporato 2009). Additionally, it is a reservoir for plant nutrients, which fuel primary production (Epstein and Bloom 2005). Yet, not all soils are equal regarding their chemical and physical properties. For example, the underlying parent material of a soil can greatly impact its properties (e.g., pH, clay type, and soil texture). Additionally, soil mineralogy inuences cation exchange capacity, which is an important determinant of traits such as soil fertility (Evangelou and Phillips 2005).