We collected O horizon and mineral soil samples between April and July 2009. Soil samples were collected along three transects in each block bisecting the two vegetation types. Transects were located 14 m apart and were sampled every 7 m along their length. This created a total of nine sampling locations within each vegetation plot for a sampling plot area of 0.1 ha within each stand (18 samples total per block). The whole O horizon, including all litter material of