Dynamics and speciation of organic carbon during decomposition of leaf litter and fine roots in four subtropical plantations of China

Wang, Hui; Liu, Shirong; Wang, Jingxin; Shi, Zhou; Lu, Ling; Wen-fu, Guo; Hu, Jia; Cai, Daoxiong

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2012.12.015

Cited by 30 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Full saturation and inundation decreases the effective rate of oxygen diffusion and thus aerobic respiration in soils (Franzluebbers 1999;Skopp et al 1990). Various macroscopic observations have revealed that the relationship between soil respiration rate and moisture content is complex and site-specific, depending on soil properties such as soil structure and texture (Franzluebbers 1999;Moyano et al 2012), carbon speciation and decomposability (Bauer et al 2008;Wang et al 2013), and microbial activity (Lehmann et al 2007;Manzoni et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pore-scale investigation on the response of heterotrophic respiration to moisture conditions in heterogeneous soils

et al. 2016

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The relationship between microbial respiration rate and soil moisture content is an important property for understanding and predicting soil organic carbon degradation, CO 2 production and emission, and their subsequent effects on climate change. This paper reports a pore-scale modeling study to investigate the response of heterotrophic respiration to moisture conditions in soils and to evaluate various factors that affect this response. X-ray computed tomography was used to derive soil pore structures, which were then used for pore-scale model investigation. The porescale results were then averaged to calculate the effective respiration rates as a function of water content in soils. The calculated effective respiration rate first increases and then decreases with increasing soil water content, showing a maximum respiration rate at water saturation degree of 0.75, which is consistent with field and laboratory observations. The relationship between the respiration rate and moisture content is affected by various factors, including pore-scale organic carbon bioavailability, the rate of oxygen delivery, soil pore structure and physical heterogeneity, soil clay content, and microbial drought resistivity. Overall, this study provides mechanistic insights into the soil respiration response to the change in moisture conditions, and reveals a complex relationship between heterotrophic microbial respiration rate and moisture content in soils that is affected by various hydrological, geophysical, and biochemical factors.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pore-scale investigation on the response of heterotrophic respiration to moisture conditions in heterogeneous soils

et al. 2016

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“…Forest decomposition systems have been the focus of several studies in recent years (Pimenta et al 2011;Terror et al 2011;Wang et al 2013;Sausen et al 2014). However, the influence of species richness and litter composition on nutrient cycling remains a topic of hot debate (Szanser et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of forest structure on litter production, soil chemical composition and litter-soil interactions

et al. 2016

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Litter production in forest ecosystems is a major indicator of primary productivity because litter helps incorporate carbon and nutrients from plants into the soil and is directly involved in plant-soil interactions. To our knowledge, few studies have investigated the relationship between species diversity and ecosystem processes in subtropical forest fragments. In this work, we determined forest structural parameters and assessed seasonal leaf litter input, leaf decomposition rate, litter quality and soil characteristics in two subtropical Atlantic Forest fragments. Litter production was greater in the native fragment with the higher species diversity (FN1). Th e two native fragments (FN1 and FN2) diff ered in basal area, volume and dominance in the upper stratum, which were positively correlated with litter production in FN1 but negatively correlated in FN2. Soil in FN1 exhibited higher contents of organic C, available phosphorus and exchangeable calcium, and the leaf litter had a higher C:N ratio. Although these results are consistent with a plant-soil feedback, which suggests the presence of a complementary eff ect, the dominance of certain families in subtropical forest fragments results in a selection eff ect on litter productivity and decomposition.

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“…Plant root systems are major components of matter exchanges and energy fluxes in ecosystems, and their turnover is a critical process in determining the soil's carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) balances (Wang et al 2013). On a global scale, total root mass is estimated to be 6.6 · 10 9 Mg in deserts, 14 · 10 9 Mg in temperate grassland, 31 · 10 9 Mg in tropical seasonal forests, 35 · 10 9 Mg in boreal forests, 41 · 10 9 Mg in woodland and shrub land, and 83 · 10 9 Mg in tropical rainforests (Jackson and Schulze 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Root decomposition ofArtemisia halodendronand its effect on soil nitrogen and soil organic carbon in the Horqin Sandy Land, northeastern China

Luo

Zou

et al. 2016

Ecological Research

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Root decomposition is a critical feedback from the plant to the soil, especially in sandy land where strong winds remove aboveground litter. As a pioneer shrub in semi‐mobile dunes of the Horqin sandy land, Artemisia halodendron has multiple effects on nutrient capture and the microenvironment. However, its root decomposition has not been studied in terms of its influence on soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N). In this study, we buried fine (≤2 mm) and coarse roots in litterbags at a depth of 15 cm below semi‐mobile dunes. We measured the masses remaining and the C and N contents at intervals during 434 days of decomposition. The soils below the litterbags were then divided into layers and sampled to measure the SOC and N contents. After rapid initial decomposition, both coarse and fine roots decomposed slowly. After 53 days, 36.2 % of coarse roots and 39.8 % of fine roots had decomposed. In contrast, only 18.4 % of coarse roots and 30.5 % of fine roots decomposed in the following 381 days. Fine roots decomposed significantly faster, and their decomposition rate after the initial rapid decay was strongly related to climate (R2 = 0.716, P < 0.05). Root decomposition increased SOC and N contents below the litterbags, with larger effects for fine roots. The SOC content was more variable between soil layers than the N content. Thus, decomposition of A. halodendron roots cannot be ignored when studying SOC and N feedbacks from plants to the soil, particularly for fine roots.

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Dynamics and speciation of organic carbon during decomposition of leaf litter and fine roots in four subtropical plantations of China

Cited by 30 publications

References 48 publications

Pore-scale investigation on the response of heterotrophic respiration to moisture conditions in heterogeneous soils

Pore-scale investigation on the response of heterotrophic respiration to moisture conditions in heterogeneous soils

Effects of forest structure on litter production, soil chemical composition and litter-soil interactions

Root decomposition ofArtemisia halodendronand its effect on soil nitrogen and soil organic carbon in the Horqin Sandy Land, northeastern China

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