Mapping soil carbon from cradle to grave: drafting a molecular blueprint for C transformation from roots to stabilized soil organic C
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); UC Berkeley
The soil surrounding plant roots, the rhizosphere, has long been recognized as a zone of great functional importance to plants and the terrestrial ecosystems they inhabit. The primary objective of this research project was to determine how organic carbon (C) decomposition and stabilization processes in soil are impacted by the interactions between plant roots and the soil microbial community. The project addressed three hypotheses:
H1: The microbiomes of the rhizosphere and detritosphere undergo a functional succession driven by the molecular composition and quantity of root-derived C.
H2: Elevated CO 2 impacts the function and succession of rhizosphere communities thus altering the fate of root-derived C.
H3: Microbial metabolism of root derived C is a critical controller of the accumulation of organic C in the mineral-associated soil pool.
Researchers combined stable isotope approaches with metagenomic analyses in order to map the flow of C from roots to specific organisms within the rhizosphere. These analyses allowed us to assess the metabolic capabilities and functional profiles of the organisms using root carbon.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0010570
- OSTI ID:
- 1437612
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-UCB--0010570
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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