Plant species exert differential effects on soil mineralogical and micromorphological characteristics. The effect of red pine and oak tree roots on the mineralogical and micromorphological characteristics of rhizosphere soils in two sampling sites in the Göksu catchment was studied. | Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Turk J Agric For (2017) 41: 233-241 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Mineralogical and micromorphological characteristics of red pine and oak root zone soils in southern Turkey 1, 1 2 1 Somayyeh RAZZAGHI *, Nadia VIGNOZZI , Selim KAPUR Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Çukurova University, Adana, Turkey 2 Research Centre for Agrobiology and Pedology (CRA-ABP), Florence, Italy Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: Plant species exert differential effects on soil mineralogical and micromorphological characteristics. The effect of red pine and oak tree roots on the mineralogical and micromorphological characteristics of rhizosphere soils in two sampling sites in the Göksu catchment was studied. The climate, topography, and bedrock conditions were kept consistent, whereas the plant factor was kept as the only variable in each site. Rhizosphere soils under the canopies of 100 years old and naturally occurring trees were compared via macromorphology, submicroscopy, mineralogy, and physical and chemical properties. The soils of red pine (RP1 and RP2 profiles) were determined to have higher porosity when compared to the soils of the oak tree profiles (Ok1, Ok2). However, the higher amounts of welded/cemented aggregates in the Ok1 and Ok2 profiles were probable indicators of maturity and probable stability of the aggregates/ MSUs. The dominant clay mineral in sampling site 1 was kaolinite, whereas it was smectite in sampling site 2. Key words: Göksu catchment, soil, rhizosphere, red pine, oak 1. Introduction The physiological processes of long-enduring trees in forest ecosystems depend on the support of their root systems, which also induce the soil physical, chemical, and biological activities and thus soil formation (Estrada-Medina et al., 2013; Guendehou et al.,
