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Abstract Fine root litter is a primary source of soil organic matter (SOM), which is a globally important pool of C that is responsive to climate change. We previously established that ~20 years of experimental nitrogen (N) deposition has slowed fine root decay and increased the storage of soil carbon (C; +18%) across a widespread northern hardwood forest ecosystem. However, the microbial mechanisms that have directly slowed fine root decay are unknown. Here, we show that experimental N deposition has decreased the relative abundance of Agaricales fungi (−31%) and increased that of partially ligninolytic Actinobacteria (+24%) on decaying fine roots. Moreover, experimental N deposition has increased the relative abundance of lignin‐derived compounds residing in SOM (+53%), and this biochemical response is significantly related to shifts in both fungal and bacterial community composition. Specifically, the accumulation of lignin‐derived compounds in SOM is negatively related to the relative abundance of ligninolyticMycenaandKuehneromycesfungi, and positively related to Microbacteriaceae. Our findings suggest that by altering the composition of microbial communities on decaying fine roots such that their capacity for lignin degradation is reduced, experimental N deposition has slowed fine root litter decay, and increased the contribution of lignin‐derived compounds from fine roots to SOM. The microbial responses we observed may explain widespread findings that anthropogenic N deposition increases soil C storage in terrestrial ecosystems. More broadly, our findings directly link composition to function in soil microbial communities, and implicate compositional shifts in mediating biogeochemical processes of global significance.
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Respiration, isotope composition, and carbon source partitioning from incubations of soil amended with litter and isotope-labeled lignin
We incubated 10 forest soils (collected from sites across North America, including the Luquillo LTER/CZO) in the laboratory for over two years to quantify the decomposition of carbon derived from added litter and lignin, as well as from extant soil organic matter. Each soil was subjected to two substrate addition treatments: a) litter derived from a C4 grass precipitated with 13C-enriched lignin, or the same C4 grass litter was precipitated with natural-abundance lignin. The concentrations and delta13C composition of carbon dioxide produced from each soil were measured periodically over time and partitioned into sources (soil organic matter, litter, and added lignin) using isotope mixing models. The methods and results are described in detail by a manuscript in Ecology (Hall et al., 2020).
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- Award ID(s):
- 1802745
- PAR ID:
- 10387387
- Publisher / Repository:
- Environmental Data Initiative
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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