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| Titel |
Controls on microbial accessibility to soil organic carbon following woody plant encroachment into grasslands |
| VerfasserIn |
Courtney Creamer, Thomas Boutton, Dan Olk, Timothy Filley |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2010
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 12 (2010) |
| Datensatznummer |
250044026
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Woody plant encroachment (WPE) into savannas and grasslands is a global phenomenon that alters soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics through changes in litter quality and quantity, soil structure, microbial ecology, and hydrology. To elucidate the controls on microbial accessibility to SOC, bulk soils from a chronosequence of progressive WPE into native grasslands at the Texas Agrilife La Copita Research Area were incubated for one year. The quantity and stable carbon isotope composition of respired CO2, and plant biopolymer chemistry in SOC were tracked. Respiration rates declined exponentially over the course of the experiment with 15-25% of the total CO2 respired released in the first month of incubation. Between 8 and 18% of the total SOC was mineralized to CO2 throughout the incubation. After day 84 a significantly (p<0.05) greater portion of SOC was mineralized from soils of older woody clusters (34-86 years) than from soils of younger woody clusters (14-23 years) and the native grassland. Invading woody stands of ≃≥35 years of age represent a transition point in WPE where respiration dynamics become distinct in wooded elements compared to grasslands; this distinction has been previously observed through changes in belowground SOC accrual, C input chemistry, and mycorrhizal productivity. Despite documented SOC accrual following WPE at La Copita, we observed no evidence of enhanced SOC stabilization in these respiration experiments. In fact, a greater proportion of total SOC was lost from the soil of mature woody stands than from young stands, suggesting SOC accumulation observed with WPE may be due to greater input rates or microbial dynamics not captured in the laboratory incubation. Compound-specific analyses indicated there was a significant (p<0.05) loss of C from carbohydrates, amino acids, and amino sugars during the incubation. Amino nitrogen tended to become more concentrated during the incubation, although the trend was not significant. Relatively few significant trends of these compounds in response to woody stand age were observed, indicating that these compounds were generally degraded to the same extent during the incubation. We hypothesize that biochemical recalcitrance is not an important mechanism for the stabilization of SOC at this site. By day 184 of the incubation, CO2 respired from older woody clusters (34-86 years) was significantly (p<0.05) less 13C-depleted with respect to bulk SOC than CO2 respired from younger woody clusters (14-23 years) and native grasslands. We hypothesize this greater depletion is due to the utilization of newer SOC derived from woody (C3) plants in preference to older SOC derived from grassland (C4) plants, which is generally protected through physical mechanisms. These results enhance our understanding of the mechanisms by which SOC storage and turnover are altered by vegetation change from grassland to woodland. |
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