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Mayer AC, McFarlane KJ, Silver WL. The effect of repeated hurricanes on the age of organic carbon in humid tropical forest soil. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e17265. [PMID: 38553935 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2023] [Revised: 03/05/2024] [Accepted: 03/17/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
Increasing hurricane frequency and intensity with climate change is likely to affect soil organic carbon (C) stocks in tropical forests. We examined the cycling of C between soil pools and with depth at the Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico in soils over a 30-year period that spanned repeated hurricanes. We used a nonlinear matrix model of soil C pools and fluxes ("soilR") and constrained the parameters with soil and litter survey data. Soil chemistry and stable and radiocarbon isotopes were measured from three soil depths across a topographic gradient in 1988 and 2018. Our results suggest that pulses and subsequent reduction of inputs caused by severe hurricanes in 1989, 1998, and two in 2017 led to faster mean transit times of soil C in 0-10 cm and 35-60 cm depths relative to a modeled control soil with constant inputs over the 30-year period. Between 1988 and 2018, the occluded C stock increased and δ13C in all pools decreased, while changes in particulate and mineral-associated C were undetectable. The differences between 1988 and 2018 suggest that hurricane disturbance results in a dilution of the occluded light C pool with an influx of young, debris-deposited C, and possible microbial scavenging of old and young C in the particulate and mineral-associated pools. These effects led to a younger total soil C pool with faster mean transit times. Our results suggest that the increasing frequency of intense hurricanes will speed up rates of C cycling in tropical forests, making soil C more sensitive to future tropical forest stressors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allegra C Mayer
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
- Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA
- Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA
| | - Karis J McFarlane
- Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA
| | - Whendee L Silver
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
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2
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von Fromm SF, Doetterl S, Butler BM, Aynekulu E, Berhe AA, Haefele SM, McGrath SP, Shepherd KD, Six J, Tamene L, Tondoh EJ, Vågen TG, Winowiecki LA, Trumbore SE, Hoyt AM. Controls on timescales of soil organic carbon persistence across sub-Saharan Africa. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e17089. [PMID: 38273490 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Revised: 11/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2024]
Abstract
Given the importance of soil for the global carbon cycle, it is essential to understand not only how much carbon soil stores but also how long this carbon persists. Previous studies have shown that the amount and age of soil carbon are strongly affected by the interaction of climate, vegetation, and mineralogy. However, these findings are primarily based on studies from temperate regions and from fine-scale studies, leaving large knowledge gaps for soils from understudied regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, there is a lack of data to validate modeled soil C dynamics at broad scales. Here, we present insights into organic carbon cycling, based on a new broad-scale radiocarbon and mineral dataset for sub-Saharan Africa. We found that in moderately weathered soils in seasonal climate zones with poorly crystalline and reactive clay minerals, organic carbon persists longer on average (topsoil: 201 ± 130 years; subsoil: 645 ± 385 years) than in highly weathered soils in humid regions (topsoil: 140 ± 46 years; subsoil: 454 ± 247 years) with less reactive minerals. Soils in arid climate zones (topsoil: 396 ± 339 years; subsoil: 963 ± 669 years) store organic carbon for periods more similar to those in seasonal climate zones, likely reflecting climatic constraints on weathering, carbon inputs and microbial decomposition. These insights into the timescales of organic carbon persistence in soils of sub-Saharan Africa suggest that a process-oriented grouping of soils based on pedo-climatic conditions may be useful to improve predictions of soil responses to climate change at broader scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie F von Fromm
- Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Sebastian Doetterl
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Keith D Shepherd
- Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK
- Innovative Solutions for Decision Agriculture (iSDA), Harpenden, UK
| | - Johan Six
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Lulseged Tamene
- International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Ebagnerin J Tondoh
- Nangui Abrogoua University, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
- CIFOR-ICRAF, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
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3
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Sierra CA, Ahrens B, Bolinder MA, Braakhekke MC, von Fromm S, Kätterer T, Luo Z, Parvin N, Wang G. Carbon sequestration in the subsoil and the time required to stabilize carbon for climate change mitigation. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e17153. [PMID: 38273531 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/27/2024]
Abstract
Soils store large quantities of carbon in the subsoil (below 0.2 m depth) that is generally old and believed to be stabilized over centuries to millennia, which suggests that subsoil carbon sequestration (CS) can be used as a strategy for climate change mitigation. In this article, we review the main biophysical processes that contribute to carbon storage in subsoil and the main mathematical models used to represent these processes. Our guiding objective is to review whether a process understanding of soil carbon movement in the vertical profile can help us to assess carbon storage and persistence at timescales relevant for climate change mitigation. Bioturbation, liquid phase transport, belowground carbon inputs, mineral association, and microbial activity are the main processes contributing to the formation of soil carbon profiles, and these processes are represented in models using the diffusion-advection-reaction paradigm. Based on simulation examples and measurements from carbon and radiocarbon profiles across biomes, we found that advective and diffusive transport may only play a secondary role in the formation of soil carbon profiles. The difference between vertical root inputs and decomposition seems to play a primary role in determining the shape of carbon change with depth. Using the transit time of carbon to assess the timescales of carbon storage of new inputs, we show that only small quantities of new carbon inputs travel through the profile and can be stabilized for time horizons longer than 50 years, implying that activities that promote CS in the subsoil must take into consideration the very small quantities that can be stabilized in the long term.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos A Sierra
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | | | - Martin A Bolinder
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | | | - Sophie von Fromm
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
- Department of Environmental Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Kätterer
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Zhongkui Luo
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Nargish Parvin
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Guocheng Wang
- Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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Muñoz E, Chanca I, Sierra CA. Increased atmospheric CO 2 and the transit time of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:6441-6452. [PMID: 37795922 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16961] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2023] [Revised: 09/12/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/06/2023]
Abstract
The response of terrestrial ecosystems to increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations is controversial and not yet fully understood, with previous large-scale forest manipulation experiments exhibiting contrasting responses. Although there is consensus that increased CO2 has a relevant effect on instantaneous processes such as photosynthesis and transpiration, there are large uncertainties regarding the fate of extra assimilated carbon in ecosystems. Filling this research gap is challenging because tracing the movement of new carbon across ecosystem compartments involves the study of multiple processes occurring over a wide range of timescales, from hours to millennia. We posit that a comprehensive quantification of the effect of increased CO2 must answer two interconnected questions: How much and for how long is newly assimilated carbon stored in ecosystems? Therefore, we propose that the transit time distribution of carbon is the key concept needed to effectively address these questions. Here, we show how the transit time distribution of carbon can be used to assess the fate of newly assimilated carbon and the timescales at which it is cycled in ecosystems. We use as an example a transit time distribution obtained from a tropical forest and show that most of the 60% of fixed carbon is respired in less than 1 year; therefore, we infer that under increased CO2 , most of the new carbon would follow a similar fate unless increased CO2 would cause changes in the rates at which carbon is cycled and transferred among ecosystem compartments. We call for a more frequent adoption of the transit time concept in studies seeking to quantify the ecosystem response to increased CO2 .
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Affiliation(s)
- Estefanía Muñoz
- Theoretical Ecosystem Ecology Group, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
| | - Ingrid Chanca
- Theoretical Ecosystem Ecology Group, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
- Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Brazil
| | - Carlos A Sierra
- Theoretical Ecosystem Ecology Group, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
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5
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Stoner S, Trumbore SE, González-Pérez JA, Schrumpf M, Sierra CA, Hoyt AM, Chadwick O, Doetterl S. Relating mineral-organic matter stabilization mechanisms to carbon quality and age distributions using ramped thermal analysis. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2023; 381:20230139. [PMID: 37807690 PMCID: PMC10642790 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2023.0139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Abstract
Organic carbon (OC) association with soil minerals stabilizes OC on timescales reflecting the strength of mineral-C interactions. We applied ramped thermal oxidation to subsoil B horizons with different mineral-C associations to separate OC according to increasing temperature of oxidation, i.e. thermal activation energy. Generally, OC released at lower temperatures was richer in bioavailable forms like polysaccharides, while OC released at higher temperatures was more aromatic. Organic carbon associated with pedogenic oxides was released at lower temperatures and had a narrow range of 14C content. By contrast, N-rich compounds were released at higher temperatures from samples with 2 : 1 clays and short-range ordered (SRO) amorphous minerals. Temperatures of release overlapped for SRO minerals and crystalline oxides, although the mean age of OC released was older for the SRO. In soils with more mixed mineralogy, the added presence of older OC released at temperatures greater than 450°C from clays resulted in a broader distribution of OC ages within the sample, especially for soils rich in 2 : 1 layer expandable clays such as smectite. While pedogenic setting affects mineral stability and absolute OC age, mineralogy controls the structure of OC age distribution within a sample, which may provide insight into model structures and OC dynamics under changing conditions. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Radiocarbon in the Anthropocene'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shane Stoner
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich,8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Susan E. Trumbore
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
| | - José A. González-Pérez
- Biogeoquímica, Ecología Vegetal y Microbiana, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla, CSIC, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Marion Schrumpf
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
| | - Carlos A. Sierra
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
| | - Alison M. Hoyt
- Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Oliver Chadwick
- Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Sebastian Doetterl
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich,8092 Zurich, Switzerland
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6
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Sierra CA, Quetin GR, Metzler H, Müller M. A decrease in the age of respired carbon from the terrestrial biosphere and increase in the asymmetry of its distribution. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2023; 381:20220200. [PMID: 37807689 PMCID: PMC10642774 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2022.0200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Accepted: 03/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Abstract
We provide here a model-based estimate of the transit time of carbon through the terrestrial biosphere, since the time of carbon uptake through photosynthesis until its release through respiration. We explored the consequences of increasing productivity versus increasing respiration rates on the transit time distribution and found that while higher respiration rates induced by higher temperature increase the transit time because older carbon is respired, increases in productivity cause a decline in transit times because more young carbon is available to supply increased metabolism. The combined effect of increases in temperature and productivity results in a decrease in transit times, with the productivity effect dominating over the respiration effect. By using an ensemble of simulation trajectories from the Carbon Data Model Framework (CARDAMOM), we obtained time-dependent transit time distributions incorporating the twentieth century global change. In these simulations, transit time declined over the twentieth century, suggesting an increased productivity effect that augmented the amount of respired young carbon, but also increasing the release of old carbon from high latitudes. The transit time distribution of carbon becomes more asymmetric over time, with more carbon transiting faster through tropical and temperate regions, and older carbon being respired from high latitude regions. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Radiocarbon in the Anthropocene'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos A. Sierra
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Gregory R. Quetin
- Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Holger Metzler
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena 07745, Germany
- Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala 75651, Sweden
| | - Markus Müller
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena 07745, Germany
- Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
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7
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Schuur EAG, Hicks Pries C, Mauritz M, Pegoraro E, Rodenhizer H, See C, Ebert C. Ecosystem and soil respiration radiocarbon detects old carbon release as a fingerprint of warming and permafrost destabilization with climate change. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2023; 381:20220201. [PMID: 37807688 PMCID: PMC10642809 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2022.0201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Abstract
The permafrost region has accumulated organic carbon in cold and waterlogged soils over thousands of years and now contains three times as much carbon as the atmosphere. Global warming is degrading permafrost with the potential to accelerate climate change as increased microbial decomposition releases soil carbon as greenhouse gases. A 19-year time series of soil and ecosystem respiration radiocarbon from Alaska provides long-term insight into changing permafrost soil carbon dynamics in a warmer world. Nine per cent of ecosystem respiration and 23% of soil respiration observations had radiocarbon values more than 50‰ lower than the atmospheric value. Furthermore, the overall trend of ecosystem and soil respiration radiocarbon values through time decreased more than atmospheric radiocarbon values did, indicating that old carbon degradation was enhanced. Boosted regression tree analyses showed that temperature and moisture environmental variables had the largest relative influence on lower radiocarbon values. This suggested that old carbon degradation was controlled by warming/permafrost thaw and soil drying together, as waterlogged soil conditions could protect soil carbon from microbial decomposition even when thawed. Overall, changing conditions increasingly favoured the release of old carbon, which is a definitive fingerprint of an accelerating feedback to climate change as a consequence of warming and permafrost destabilization. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Radiocarbon in the Anthropocene'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward A. G. Schuur
- Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, and Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
| | - Caitlin Hicks Pries
- Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
| | - Marguerite Mauritz
- Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, TX 79902, USA
| | - Elaine Pegoraro
- Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | | | - Craig See
- Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, and Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
| | - Chris Ebert
- Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, and Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
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8
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Moisture-driven divergence in mineral-associated soil carbon persistence. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2210044120. [PMID: 36745807 PMCID: PMC9962923 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2210044120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Mineral stabilization of soil organic matter is an important regulator of the global carbon (C) cycle. However, the vulnerability of mineral-stabilized organic matter (OM) to climate change is currently unknown. We examined soil profiles from 34 sites across the conterminous USA to investigate how the abundance and persistence of mineral-associated organic C varied with climate at the continental scale. Using a novel combination of radiocarbon and molecular composition measurements, we show that the relationship between the abundance and persistence of mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) appears to be driven by moisture availability. In wetter climates where precipitation exceeds evapotranspiration, excess moisture leads to deeper and more prolonged periods of wetness, creating conditions which favor greater root abundance and also allow for greater diffusion and interaction of inputs with MAOM. In these humid soils, mineral-associated soil organic C concentration and persistence are strongly linked, whereas this relationship is absent in drier climates. In arid soils, root abundance is lower, and interaction of inputs with mineral surfaces is limited by shallower and briefer periods of moisture, resulting in a disconnect between concentration and persistence. Data suggest a tipping point in the cycling of mineral-associated C at a climate threshold where precipitation equals evaporation. As climate patterns shift, our findings emphasize that divergence in the mechanisms of OM persistence associated with historical climate legacies need to be considered in process-based models.
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Valette N, Legout A, Goodell B, Alfredsen G, Auer L, Gelhaye E, Derrien D. Impact of Norway spruce pre-degradation stages induced by Gloeophyllum trabeum on fungal and bacterial communities. FUNGAL ECOL 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.funeco.2022.101188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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10
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Xiao L, Wang G, Wang M, Zhang S, Sierra CA, Guo X, Chang J, Shi Z, Luo Z. Younger carbon dominates global soil carbon efflux. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:5587-5599. [PMID: 35748530 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2022] [Accepted: 06/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Soil carbon (C) is comprised of a continuum of organic compounds with distinct ages (i.e., the time a C atom has experienced in soil since the C atom entered soil). The contribution of different age groups to soil C efflux is critical for understanding soil C stability and persistence, but is poorly understood due to the complexity of soil C pool age structure and potential distinct turnover behaviors of age groups. Here, we build upon the quantification of soil C transit times to infer the age of C atoms in soil C efflux (aefflux ) from seven sequential soil layer depths down to 2 m at a global scale, and compare this age with radiocarbon-inferred ages of C retained in corresponding soil layers (asoil ). In the whole 0-2 m soil profile, the mean aefflux is 194 21 1021 (mean with 5%-95% quantiles) year and is just about one-eighth of asoil ( 1476 717 2547 year), demonstrating that younger C dominates soil C efflux. With increasing soil depth, both aefflux and asoil are increased, but their disparities are markedly narrowed. That is, the proportional contribution of relatively younger soil C to efflux is decreased in deeper layers, demonstrating that C inputs (new and young) stay longer in deeper layers. Across the globe, we find large spatial variability of the contribution of soil C age groups to C efflux. Especially, in deep soil layers of cold regions (e.g., boreal forests and tundra), aefflux may be older than asoil , suggesting that older C dominates C efflux only under a limited range of conditions. These results imply that most C inputs may not contribute to long-term soil C storage, particularly in upper layers that hold the majority of new C inputs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liujun Xiao
- Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Guocheng Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Mingming Wang
- Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Shuai Zhang
- Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Carlos A Sierra
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Xiaowei Guo
- Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jinfeng Chang
- Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Academy of Ecological Civilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health, Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhou Shi
- Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Academy of Ecological Civilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health, Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhongkui Luo
- Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Academy of Ecological Civilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health, Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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11
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Heckman K, Hicks Pries CE, Lawrence CR, Rasmussen C, Crow SE, Hoyt AM, von Fromm SF, Shi Z, Stoner S, McGrath C, Beem-Miller J, Berhe AA, Blankinship JC, Keiluweit M, Marín-Spiotta E, Monroe JG, Plante AF, Schimel J, Sierra CA, Thompson A, Wagai R. Beyond bulk: Density fractions explain heterogeneity in global soil carbon abundance and persistence. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:1178-1196. [PMID: 34862692 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2021] [Revised: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 11/02/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the controls on the amount and persistence of soil organic carbon (C) is essential for predicting its sensitivity to global change. The response may depend on whether C is unprotected, isolated within aggregates, or protected from decomposition by mineral associations. Here, we present a global synthesis of the relative influence of environmental factors on soil organic C partitioning among pools, abundance in each pool (mg C g-1 soil), and persistence (as approximated by radiocarbon abundance) in relatively unprotected particulate and protected mineral-bound pools. We show that C within particulate and mineral-associated pools consistently differed from one another in degree of persistence and relationship to environmental factors. Soil depth was the best predictor of C abundance and persistence, though it accounted for more variance in persistence. Persistence of all C pools decreased with increasing mean annual temperature (MAT) throughout the soil profile, whereas persistence increased with increasing wetness index (MAP/PET) in subsurface soils (30-176 cm). The relationship of C abundance (mg C g-1 soil) to climate varied among pools and with depth. Mineral-associated C in surface soils (<30 cm) increased more strongly with increasing wetness index than the free particulate C, but both pools showed attenuated responses to the wetness index at depth. Overall, these relationships suggest a strong influence of climate on soil C properties, and a potential loss of soil C from protected pools in areas with decreasing wetness. Relative persistence and abundance of C pools varied significantly among land cover types and soil parent material lithologies. This variability in each pool's relationship to environmental factors suggests that not all soil organic C is equally vulnerable to global change. Therefore, projections of future soil organic C based on patterns and responses of bulk soil organic C may be misleading.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine Heckman
- USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Houghton, Michigan, USA
| | | | - Corey R Lawrence
- U.S. Geological Survey, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Denver, Colorado, USA
| | - Craig Rasmussen
- Department of Environmental Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Susan E Crow
- Natural Resources and Environmental Management Department, University of Hawaii Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
| | - Alison M Hoyt
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
- Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Sophie F von Fromm
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Zheng Shi
- Computational Sciences & Engineering Division and Climate Change Science Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
| | - Shane Stoner
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Casey McGrath
- Natural Resources and Environmental Management Department, University of Hawaii Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
| | - Jeffrey Beem-Miller
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
| | - Asmeret Asefaw Berhe
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Merced, California, USA
| | - Joseph C Blankinship
- Department of Environmental Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Marco Keiluweit
- School of Earth & Sustainability and Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Erika Marín-Spiotta
- Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - J Grey Monroe
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA
| | - Alain F Plante
- Department of Earth & Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Joshua Schimel
- Department of Ecology Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, USA
| | - Carlos A Sierra
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Aaron Thompson
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and the Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
| | - Rota Wagai
- Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
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12
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Land-Use Change Depletes Quantity and Quality of Soil Organic Matter Fractions in Ethiopian Highlands. FORESTS 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/f13010069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The depletion of soil organic matter (SOM) reserve after deforestation and subsequent management practices are well documented, but the impacts of land-use change on the persistence and vulnerability of storage C and N remain uncertain. We investigated soil organic C (SOC) and N stocks in a landscape of chrono-sequence natural forest, grazing/crop lands and plantation forest in the highlands of North-West Ethiopia. We hypothesized that in addition to depleting total C and N pools, multiple conversions of natural forest significantly change the relative proportion of labile and recalcitrant C and N fractions in soils, and thus affect SOM quality. To examine this hypothesis, we estimated depletion of SOC and N stocks and labile (1 & 2) and recalcitrant (fraction 3) C and N pools in soil organic matter following the acid hydrolysis technique. Our studies showed the highest loss of C stock was in grazing land (58%) followed by cropland (50%) and eucalyptus plantation (47%), while on average ca. 57% N stock was depleted. Eucalyptus plantation exhibited potential for soil C recovery, although not for N, after 30 years. The fractionation of SOM revealed that depletions of labile 1 C stocks were similar in grazing and crop lands (36%), and loss of recalcitrant C was highest in grazing soil (56%). However, increases in relative concentrations of labile fraction 1 in grazing land and recalcitrant C and N in cropland suggest the quality of these pools might be influenced by management activities. Also, the C:N ratio of C fractions and recalcitrant indices (RIC and RIN) clearly demonstrated that land conversion from natural forest to managed systems changes the inherent quality of the fractions, which was obscured in whole soil analysis. These findings underscore the importance of considering the quality of SOM when evaluating disturbance impacts on SOC and N stocks.
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Waring BG, Sulman BN, Reed S, Smith AP, Averill C, Creamer CA, Cusack DF, Hall SJ, Jastrow JD, Jilling A, Kemner KM, Kleber M, Allen Liu XJ, Pett-Ridge J, Schulz M. Response to 'Stochastic and deterministic interpretation of pool models'. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2021; 27:e11-e12. [PMID: 33660887 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Bonnie G Waring
- Grantham Institute on Climate and the Environment, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Benjamin N Sulman
- Environmental Sciences Division and Climate Change Science Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
| | - Sasha Reed
- U.S. Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center, Moab, UT, USA
| | - A Peyton Smith
- Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Colin Averill
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | | | - Daniela F Cusack
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Warner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Steven J Hall
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Julie D Jastrow
- Environmental Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA
| | - Andrea Jilling
- Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
| | - Kenneth M Kemner
- Biosciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA
| | - Markus Kleber
- Department of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Xiao-Jun Allen Liu
- Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
| | - Jennifer Pett-Ridge
- Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
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Azizi-Rad M, Chanca I, Herrera-Ramírez D, Metzler H, Sierra CA. Stochastic and deterministic interpretation of pool models. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2021; 27:2271-2272. [PMID: 33666304 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15581] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Carbon and element cycling models can be expressed in terms of the dynamics of individual particles or collection of them in aggregated pools. In both cases, the models represent the same dynamics and provide similar predictions. The time required for individual particles to pass through a system, that is, the transit time, can be obtained from both approaches. Pool models can be analyzed from a stochastic or a deterministic point of view.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ingrid Chanca
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
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15
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Azzi ES, Karltun E, Sundberg C. Assessing the diverse environmental effects of biochar systems: An evaluation framework. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2021; 286:112154. [PMID: 33609929 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2020] [Revised: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 02/06/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Biochar has been recognised as a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology. Unlike other CDR technologies, biochar is expected to deliver various valuable effects in e.g. agriculture, animal husbandry, industrial processes, remediation activities and waste management. The diversity of biochar side effects to CDR makes the systematic environmental assessment of biochar projects challenging, and to date, there is no common framework for evaluating them. Our aim is to bridge the methodology gap for evaluating biochar systems from a life-cycle perspective. Using life cycle theory, actual biochar projects, and reviews of biochar research, we propose a general description of biochar systems, an overview of biochar effects, and an evaluation framework for biochar effects. The evaluation framework was applied to a case study, the Stockholm Biochar Project. In the framework, biochar effects are classified according to life cycle stage and life cycle effect type; and the biochar's end-of-life and the reference situations are made explicit. Three types of effects are easily included in life cycle theory: changes in biosphere exchanges, technosphere inputs, and technosphere outputs. For other effects, analysing the cause-effect chain may be helpful. Several biochar effects in agroecosystems can be modelled as future productivity increases against a reference situation. In practice, the complexity of agroecosystems can be bypassed by using empirical models. Existing biochar life cycle studies are often limited to carbon footprint calculations and quantify a limited amount of biochar effects, mainly carbon sequestration, energy displacements and fertiliser-related emissions. The methodological development in this study can be of benefit to the biochar and CDR research communities, as well as decision-makers in biochar practice and policy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elias S Azzi
- Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Engineering, and Sciences (SEED), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.
| | - Erik Karltun
- Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Cecilia Sundberg
- Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Engineering, and Sciences (SEED), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden; Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden
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Sapkota Y, White JR. Long-term fate of rapidly eroding carbon stock soil profiles in coastal wetlands. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 753:141913. [PMID: 32906042 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2020] [Revised: 08/20/2020] [Accepted: 08/21/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Marsh edge erosion is one of the major causes of land and associated carbon loss in wetland-dominated coastlines. Assessing carbon stocks and understanding fate of eroding carbon is an essential component of wetland carbon budget. This study aims to understand the vertical soil carbon profile of an eroding marsh and potential mineralization of carbon in estuaries. Eleven soil cores (~2 m deep) were collected from the edge of four highly eroding marsh sites and three cores from the estuarine bottom (~50 cm deep). Cores were sectioned into 10-cm intervals and analyzed for total, labile and refractory carbon, carbon density, select enzyme and microbial activities, and organic and inorganic phosphorus forms. The total carbon, labile carbon, and carbon density increased with depth at all sites. The carbon density at 1-1.5 m deep (0.04 ± 0.003 g cm-3) was significantly higher (p < 0.0001) than the top 1 m soil (0.032 ± 0.002 g cm-3), indicating the need for considering deeper carbon profile for blue carbon stock assessment. The age of the carbon at the estuarine bottom was 388 ± 84 years before present (ybp) indicating the recently eroded wetland carbon is not reburied in the estuary. Significant anaerobic microbial activity was present at all the soil depths suggesting high potential of mineralization of eroded carbon in the aerobic estuarine water. The coastlines experiencing high relative sea-level rise at present or coastlines that are projecting high sea-level rise in the near future are susceptible to losing an enormous amount of previously sequestered carbon over a relatively short period of time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yadav Sapkota
- Wetland and Aquatic Biogeochemistry Laboratory, Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States of America
| | - John R White
- Wetland and Aquatic Biogeochemistry Laboratory, Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States of America.
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Waring BG, Sulman BN, Reed S, Smith AP, Averill C, Creamer CA, Cusack DF, Hall SJ, Jastrow JD, Jilling A, Kemner KM, Kleber M, Liu XJA, Pett-Ridge J, Schulz M. From pools to flow: The PROMISE framework for new insights on soil carbon cycling in a changing world. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2020; 26:6631-6643. [PMID: 33064359 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2020] [Accepted: 09/11/2020] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
Soils represent the largest terrestrial reservoir of organic carbon, and the balance between soil organic carbon (SOC) formation and loss will drive powerful carbon-climate feedbacks over the coming century. To date, efforts to predict SOC dynamics have rested on pool-based models, which assume classes of SOC with internally homogenous physicochemical properties. However, emerging evidence suggests that soil carbon turnover is not dominantly controlled by the chemistry of carbon inputs, but rather by restrictions on microbial access to organic matter in the spatially heterogeneous soil environment. The dynamic processes that control the physicochemical protection of carbon translate poorly to pool-based SOC models; as a result, we are challenged to mechanistically predict how environmental change will impact movement of carbon between soils and the atmosphere. Here, we propose a novel conceptual framework to explore controls on belowground carbon cycling: Probabilistic Representation of Organic Matter Interactions within the Soil Environment (PROMISE). In contrast to traditional model frameworks, PROMISE does not attempt to define carbon pools united by common thermodynamic or functional attributes. Rather, the PROMISE concept considers how SOC cycling rates are governed by the stochastic processes that influence the proximity between microbial decomposers and organic matter, with emphasis on their physical location in the soil matrix. We illustrate the applications of this framework with a new biogeochemical simulation model that traces the fate of individual carbon atoms as they interact with their environment, undergoing biochemical transformations and moving through the soil pore space. We also discuss how the PROMISE framework reshapes dialogue around issues related to SOC management in a changing world. We intend the PROMISE framework to spur the development of new hypotheses, analytical tools, and model structures across disciplines that will illuminate mechanistic controls on the flow of carbon between plant, soil, and atmospheric pools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bonnie G Waring
- Department of Biology and Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA
| | - Benjamin N Sulman
- Environmental Sciences Division and Climate Change Science Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
| | - Sasha Reed
- U.S. Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center, Moab, UT, USA
| | - A Peyton Smith
- Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Colin Averill
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | | | - Daniela F Cusack
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Warner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Steven J Hall
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Julie D Jastrow
- Environmental Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA
| | - Andrea Jilling
- Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
| | - Kenneth M Kemner
- Biosciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA
| | - Markus Kleber
- Department of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Xiao-Jun Allen Liu
- Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
| | - Jennifer Pett-Ridge
- Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
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18
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Spohn M, Müller K, Höschen C, Mueller CW, Marhan S. Dark microbial CO 2 fixation in temperate forest soils increases with CO 2 concentration. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2020; 26:1926-1935. [PMID: 31774225 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2019] [Accepted: 11/18/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Dark, that is, nonphototrophic, microbial CO2 fixation occurs in a large range of soils. However, it is still not known whether dark microbial CO2 fixation substantially contributes to the C balance of soils and what factors control this process. Therefore, the objective of this study was to quantitate dark microbial CO2 fixation in temperate forest soils, to determine the relationship between the soil CO2 concentration and dark microbial CO2 fixation, and to estimate the relative contribution of different microbial groups to dark CO2 fixation. For this purpose, we conducted a 13 C-CO2 labeling experiment. We found that the rates of dark microbial CO2 fixation were positively correlated with the CO2 concentration in all soils. Dark microbial CO2 fixation amounted to up to 320 µg C kg-1 soil day-1 in the Ah horizon. The fixation rates were 2.8-8.9 times higher in the Ah horizon than in the Bw1 horizon. Although the rates of dark microbial fixation were small compared to the respiration rate (1.2%-3.9% of the respiration rate), our findings suggest that organic matter formed by microorganisms from CO2 contributes to the soil organic matter pool, especially given that microbial detritus is more stable in soil than plant detritus. Phospholipid fatty acid analyses indicated that CO2 was mostly fixed by gram-positive bacteria, and not by fungi. In conclusion, our study shows that the dark microbial CO2 fixation rate in temperate forest soils increases in periods of high CO2 concentrations, that dark microbial CO2 fixation is mostly accomplished by gram-positive bacteria, and that dark microbial CO2 fixation contributes to the formation of soil organic matter.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Spohn
- Soil Biogeochemistry, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Karolin Müller
- Soil Biology, Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Carmen Höschen
- Soil Science, Technical University of Munich, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany
| | - Carsten W Mueller
- Soil Science, Technical University of Munich, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany
| | - Sven Marhan
- Soil Biology, Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
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