More Like this

1. Microbial Activity and Root Carbon Inputs Are More Important than Soil Carbon Diffusion in Simulating Soil Carbon Profiles

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JG006205  

   Wang, Ying‐Ping ; Zhang, Haicheng ; Ciais, Philippe ; Goll, Daniel ; Huang, Yuanyuan ; Wood, Jeffrey D. ; Ollinger, Scott V. ; Tang, Xuli ; Prescher, Anne‐Katrin ( April 2021 , Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences)
2. Soil microbial community composition is correlated to soil carbon processing along a boreal wetland formation gradient

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejsobi.2017.08.001  

   Chapman, Eric J. ; Cadillo-Quiroz, Hinsby ; Childers, Daniel L. ; Turetsky, Merritt R. ; Waldrop, Mark P. ( September 2017 , European Journal of Soil Biology)
3. Microbial dynamics and soil physicochemical properties explain large‐scale variations in soil organic carbon

   https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14994  

   Zhang, Haicheng ; Goll, Daniel S. ; Wang, Ying‐Ping ; Ciais, Philippe ; Wieder, William R. ; Abramoff, Rose ; Huang, Yuanyuan ; Guenet, Bertrand ; Prescher, Anne‐Katrin ; Viscarra Rossel, Raphael A. ; et al ( April 2020 , Global Change Biology)

   null (Ed.)
4. Assessing microbial residues in soil as a potential carbon sink and moderator of carbon use efficiency

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-020-00720-4  

   Geyer, Kevin ; Schnecker, Jörg ; Grandy, A. Stuart ; Richter, Andreas ; Frey, Serita ( December 2020 , Biogeochemistry)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract A longstanding assumption of glucose tracing experiments is that all glucose is microbially utilized during short incubations of ≤2 days to become microbial biomass or carbon dioxide. Carbon use efficiency (CUE) estimates have consequently ignored the formation of residues (non-living microbial products) although such materials could represent an important sink of glucose that is prone to stabilization as soil organic matter. We examined the dynamics of microbial residue formation from a short tracer experiment with frequent samplings over 72 h, and conducted a meta-analysis of previously published glucose tracing studies to assess the generality of these experimental results. Both our experiment and meta-analysis indicated 30–34% of amended glucose-C ( 13 C or 14 C) was in the form of residues within the first 6 h of substrate addition. We expand the conventional efficiency calculation to include residues in both the numerator and denominator of efficiency, thereby deriving a novel metric of the potential persistence of glucose-C in soil as living microbial biomass plus residues (‘carbon stabilization efficiency’). This new metric indicates nearly 40% of amended glucose-C persists in soil 180 days after amendment, the majority as non-biomass residues. Starting microbial biomass and clay content emerge as critical factors that positively promote such long term stabilization of labile C. Rapid residue production supports the conclusion that non-growth maintenance activity can illicit high demands for C in soil, perhaps equaling that directed towards growth, and that residues may have an underestimated role in the cycling and sequestration potential of C in soil. 

   more » « less
5. Microbial carbon use efficiency promotes global soil carbon storage

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06042-3  

   Tao, Feng ; Huang, Yuanyuan ; Hungate, Bruce A. ; Manzoni, Stefano ; Frey, Serita D. ; Schmidt, Michael W. ; Reichstein, Markus ; Carvalhais, Nuno ; Ciais, Philippe ; Jiang, Lifen ; et al ( June 2023 , Nature)

   Abstract Soils store more carbon than other terrestrial ecosystems 1,2 . How soil organic carbon (SOC) forms and persists remains uncertain 1,3 , which makes it challenging to understand how it will respond to climatic change 3,4 . It has been suggested that soil microorganisms play an important role in SOC formation, preservation and loss 5–7 . Although microorganisms affect the accumulation and loss of soil organic matter through many pathways 4,6,8–11 , microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) is an integrative metric that can capture the balance of these processes 12,13 . Although CUE has the potential to act as a predictor of variation in SOC storage, the role of CUE in SOC persistence remains unresolved 7,14,15 . Here we examine the relationship between CUE and the preservation of SOC, and interactions with climate, vegetation and edaphic properties, using a combination of global-scale datasets, a microbial-process explicit model, data assimilation, deep learning and meta-analysis. We find that CUE is at least four times as important as other evaluated factors, such as carbon input, decomposition or vertical transport, in determining SOC storage and its spatial variation across the globe. In addition, CUE shows a positive correlation with SOC content. Our findings point to microbial CUE as a major determinant of global SOC storage. Understanding the microbial processes underlying CUE and their environmental dependence may help the prediction of SOC feedback to a changing climate. 

   more » « less