Species and Media Effects on Soil Carbon Dynamics in the Landscape.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Marble SC
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4853735 | biostudies-other | 2016 May
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:Returning crop residues is a possible practice for balancing soil carbon (C) loss. The turnover rate of organic C from crop residues to soil C is dependent on soil microbial community dynamics. However, the relationship between any temporal changes in the soil microbial community after crop straw inputs and the dynamics of straw-C distribution in the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool remains unclear. The present study investigated the allocation of straw-C into soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), particulate organic carbon (POC) and mineral-associated organic carbon (MaOC) using stable isotope probing, as well as the temporal changes in the soil bacterial and fungal communities using high-throughput sequencing. After the first 180 days of straw decomposition, approximately 3.93% and 19.82% of straw-C was transformed into soil MaOC and POC, respectively, while 0.02% and 2.25% of straw-C was transformed into soil DOC and MBC, respectively. The temporal change of the soil microbial community was positively correlated with the dynamics of straw-C distribution to SOC (R > 0.5, P < 0.05). The copiotrophic bacteria (e.g., Streptomyces, Massilia and Sphingobacterium), cellulolytic bacteria and fungi (e.g., Dyella and Fusarium, Talaromyces), acidophilic bacteria (e.g., Edaphobacter and unclassified Acidobacteriaceae), denitrifying and N-fixing microbes (e.g., Burkholderia-Paraburkholderia, Paraphaeosphaeria and Bradyrhizobium), and fungi unclassified Sordariomycetes were significantly correlated with straw-C distribution to specific SOC fractions (P < 0.05), which explained more than 90% of the variation of straw-C allocation into soils. Copiotrophic, certain cellulolytic and denitrifying microbes had positively correlated with DOC- and MaOC-derived from straw, and other cellulolytic fungi (e.g., Talaromyces) and specific bacteria (e.g. Bradyrhizobium) were positively correlated with POC-derived from straw. Our results highlight that the temporal change of soil microbial community structure well reflects the conversion and distribution process of straw-C to SOC fractions.
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Project description:Permafrost soils contain enormous amounts of organic carbon whose stability is contingent on remaining frozen. With future warming, these soils may release carbon to the atmosphere and act as a positive feedback to climate change. Significant uncertainty remains on the postthaw carbon dynamics of permafrost-affected ecosystems, in particular since most of the carbon resides at depth where decomposition dynamics may differ from surface soils, and since nitrogen mineralized by decomposition may enhance plant growth. Here we show, using a carbon-nitrogen model that includes permafrost processes forced in an unmitigated warming scenario, that the future carbon balance of the permafrost region is highly sensitive to the decomposability of deeper carbon, with the net balance ranging from 21 Pg C to 164 Pg C losses by 2300. Increased soil nitrogen mineralization reduces nutrient limitations, but the impact of deep nitrogen on the carbon budget is small due to enhanced nitrogen availability from warming surface soils and seasonal asynchrony between deeper nitrogen availability and plant nitrogen demands. Although nitrogen dynamics are highly uncertain, the future carbon balance of this region is projected to hinge more on the rate and extent of permafrost thaw and soil decomposition than on enhanced nitrogen availability for vegetation growth resulting from permafrost thaw.
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Project description:Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a major component in the global carbon cycle. Yet how input of plant litter may influence the loss of SOC through a phenomenon called priming effect remains highly uncertain. Most published results about the priming effect came from short-term investigations for a few weeks or at the most for a few months in duration. The priming effect has not been studied at the annual time scale. In this study for 815 days, we investigated the priming effect of added maize leaves on SOC decomposition of two soil types and two treatments (bare fallow for 23 years, and adjacent old-field, represent stable and relatively labile SOC, respectively) of SOC stabilities within each soil type, using a natural 13C-isotope method. Results showed that the variation of the priming effect through time had three distinctive phases for all soils: (1) a strong negative priming phase during the first period (?0-90 days); (2) a pulse of positive priming phase in the middle (?70-160 and 140-350 days for soils from Hailun and Shenyang stations, respectively); and (3) a relatively stabilized phase of priming during the last stage of the incubation (>160 days and >350 days for soils from Hailun and Shenyang stations, respectively). Because of major differences in soil properties, the two soil types produced different cumulative priming effects at the end of the experiment, a positive priming effect of 3-7% for the Mollisol and a negative priming effect of 4-8% for the Alfisol. Although soil types and measurement times modulated most of the variability of the priming effect, relative SOC stabilities also influenced the priming effect for a particular soil type and at a particular dynamic phase. The stable SOC from the bare fallow treatment tended to produce a narrower variability during the first phase of negative priming and also during the second phase of positive priming. Averaged over the entire experiment, the stable SOC (i.e., the bare fallow) was at least as responsive to priming as the relatively labile SOC (i.e., the old-field) if not more responsive. The annual time scale of our experiment allowed us to demonstrate the three distinctive phases of the priming effect. Our results highlight the importance of studying the priming effect by investigating the temporal dynamics over longer time scales.
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Project description:The persistence of soil organic carbon (SOC) has traditionally been explained as a combination of recalcitrance properties and stabilization processes, which lead to the formation of complex organic compounds. However, recent conceptual advances and experimental evidence challenge this view. Here, we test these conceptual advances using a dynamic equilibrium theory of SOC founded on classic ecological theory. We postulate that the persistence of SOC is an equilibrium point where SOC losses resulting from continuous decomposition and SOC gains due to SOC protection are balanced. We show that we can describe the temporal dynamics of SOC remarkably well (average and median R 2 = 0.75) in publicly available SOC time series from experiments that investigated the effects of agricultural practices in arable soils. The predictive power of our simplistic model is not meant to compete with that of current multi-pool SOC models or recent developments that include microbial loops. The simplicity of our analysis can, however, show how the conceptual distinction between the forces that control SOC loss and gain, and their equilibrium, can shed light on SOC dynamics. Specifically, our analysis shows that, regardless of specific mechanisms, the persistence of SOC will depend on the ultimate equilibrium between SOC gains and losses, which may depend on environmental (e.g. temperature) and ecological (e.g. spatially structured microbial activities) factors and the relative roles of these factors. Future experimental studies should quantify these roles to formulate a new generation of SOC dynamics model.
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Project description:Urban trees sequester carbon into biomass and provide many ecosystem service benefits aboveground leading to worldwide tree planting schemes. Since soils hold ?75% of ecosystem organic carbon, understanding the effect of urban trees on soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil properties that underpin belowground ecosystem services is vital. We use an observational study to investigate effects of three important tree genera and mixed-species woodlands on soil properties (to 1 m depth) compared to adjacent urban grasslands. Aboveground biomass and belowground ecosystem service provision by urban trees are found not to be directly coupled. Indeed, SOC enhancement relative to urban grasslands is genus-specific being highest under Fraxinus excelsior and Acer spp., but similar to grasslands under Quercus robur and mixed woodland. Tree cover type does not influence soil bulk density or C?N ratio, properties which indicate the ability of soils to provide regulating ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling and flood mitigation. The trends observed in this study suggest that genus selection is important to maximise long-term SOC storage under urban trees, but emerging threats from genus-specific pathogens must also be considered.
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Project description:Extracting and identifying genetic material from environmental media (i.e. water and soil) presents a unique opportunity for researchers to assess biotic diversity and ecosystem health with increased speed and decreased cost as compared to traditional methods (e.g. trapping). The heterogeneity of soil mineralogy, spatial and temporal variations however present unique challenges to sampling and interpreting results. Specifically, fate/transport of genetic material in the terrestrial environment represents a substantial data gap. Here we investigate to what degree, benthic fauna transport genetic material through soil. Using the red worm (Eisenia fetida), we investigate how natural movement through artificial soil affect the transport of genetic material. All experiments were run in Frabill® Habitat® II worm systems with approximately 5 cm depth of artificial soil. We selected an "exotic" source of DNA not expected to be present in soil, zebrafish (Danio rerio) tissue. Experiment groups contained homogenized zebrafish tissue placed in a defined location combined with a varying number of worms (10, 30 or 50 worms per experimental group). Experimental groups comprised two controls and three treatment groups (representing different worm biomass) in triplicate. A total of 210 soil samples were randomly collected over the course of 15 days to investigate the degree of genetic transfer, and the rate of detection. Positive detections were identified in 14% - 38% of samples across treatment groups, with an overall detection rate of 25%. These findings highlight two important issues when utilizing environmental DNA for biologic assessments. First, benthic fauna are capable of redistributing genetic material through a soil matrix. Second, despite a defined sample container and abundance of worm biomass, as many as 86% of the samples were negative. This has substantial implications for researchers and managers who wish to interpret environmental DNA results from terrestrial systems. Studies such as these will aid in future study protocol design and sample collection methodology.
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Project description:Mathematical models do not explicitly represent the influence of soil microbial diversity on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics despite recent evidence of relationships between them. The objective of the present study was to statistically investigate relationships between bacterial and fungal diversity indexes (richness, evenness, Shannon index, inverse Simpson index) and decomposition of different pools of soil organic carbon by measuring dynamics of CO2 emissions under controlled conditions. To this end, 20 soils from two different land uses (cropland and grassland) were incubated with or without incorporation of 13C-labelled wheat-straw residue. 13C-labelling allowed us to study residue mineralisation, basal respiration and the priming effect independently. An innovative data-mining approach was applied, based on generalized additive models and a predictive criterion. Results showed that microbial diversity indexes can be good covariates to integrate in SOC dynamics models, depending on the C source and the processes considered (native soil organic carbon vs. fresh wheat residue). Specifically, microbial diversity indexes were good candidates to help explain mineralisation of native soil organic carbon, while priming effect processes seemed to be explained much more by microbial composition, and no microbial diversity indexes were found associated with residue mineralisation. Investigation of relationships between diversity and mineralisation showed that higher diversity, as measured by the microbial diversity indexes, seemed to be related to decreased CO2 emissions in the control soil. We suggest that this relationship can be explained by an increase in carbon yield assimilation as microbial diversity increases. Thus, the parameter for carbon yield assimilation in mathematical models could be calculated as a function of microbial diversity indexes. Nonetheless, given limitations of the methods used, these observations should be considered with caution and confirmed with more experimental studies. Overall, along with other studies on relationships between microbial community composition and SOM dynamics, this study suggests that overall measures of microbial diversity may constitute relevant ways to include microbial diversity in models of SOM dynamics.
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Project description:BACKGROUND:Quantification of ecosystem services, such as carbon (C) storage, can demonstrate the benefits of managing for both production and habitat conservation in agricultural landscapes. In this study, we evaluated C stocks and woody plant diversity across vineyard blocks and adjoining woodland ecosystems (wildlands) for an organic vineyard in northern California. Carbon was measured in soil from 44 one m deep pits, and in aboveground woody biomass from 93 vegetation plots. These data were combined with physical landscape variables to model C stocks using a geographic information system and multivariate linear regression. RESULTS:Field data showed wildlands to be heterogeneous in both C stocks and woody tree diversity, reflecting the mosaic of several different vegetation types, and storing on average 36.8 Mg C/ha in aboveground woody biomass and 89.3 Mg C/ha in soil. Not surprisingly, vineyard blocks showed less variation in above- and belowground C, with an average of 3.0 and 84.1 Mg C/ha, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:This research demonstrates that vineyards managed with practices that conserve some fraction of adjoining wildlands yield benefits for increasing overall C stocks and species and habitat diversity in integrated agricultural landscapes. For such complex landscapes, high resolution spatial modeling is challenging and requires accurate characterization of the landscape by vegetation type, physical structure, sufficient sampling, and allometric equations that relate tree species to each landscape. Geographic information systems and remote sensing techniques are useful for integrating the above variables into an analysis platform to estimate C stocks in these working landscapes, thereby helping land managers qualify for greenhouse gas mitigation credits. Carbon policy in California, however, shows a lack of focus on C stocks compared to emissions, and on agriculture compared to other sectors. Correcting these policy shortcomings could create incentives for ecosystem service provision, including C storage, as well as encourage better farm stewardship and habitat conservation.
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