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Title: New soil carbon sequestration with nitrogen enrichment: a meta-analysis

Journal Article · · Plant and Soil
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6]
  1. Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing (China); Univ. of Exeter (United Kingdom); Nanjing Agricultural Univ. (China)
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  3. Univ. of Sydney, Camden, NSW (Australia)
  4. Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States)
  5. Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing (China); Nanjing Agricultural Univ. (China)
  6. Univ. of Exeter (United Kingdom)

Background and aims: Through agriculture and industry, humans are increasing the deposition and availability of nitrogen (N) in ecosystems worldwide. Carbon (C) isotope tracers provide useful insights into soil C dynamics, as they allow to study soil C pools of different ages. In this study we evaluated to what extent N enrichment affects soil C dynamics in experiments that applied C isotope tracers. Methods: Using meta-analysis, we synthesized data from 35 published papers. We made a distinction between “new C” and “old C” stocks, i.e., soil C derived from plant C input since the start of the isotopic enrichment, or unlabeled, pre-existing soil C. Results: Averaged across studies, N addition increased new soil C stocks (+30.3%), total soil C stocks (+6.1%) and soil C input proxies (+30.7%). Although N addition had no overall, average, effect on old soil C stocks and old soil C respiration, old soil C stocks increased with the amount of N added and respiration of old soil C declined. Nitrogen-induced effects on new soil C and soil C input both decreased with the amount of extraneous N added in control treatments. Conclusion: Although our findings require additional confirmation from long-term field experiments, our analysis provides isotopic evidence that N addition stimulates soil C storage both by increasing soil C input and (at high N rates) by decreasing decomposition of old soil C. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the widely reported saturating response of plant growth to N enrichment also applies to new soil C storage.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Key Research and Development Program of China; China Scholarship Council (CSC); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; SC0008270
OSTI ID:
1660528
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-814084; 1022258
Journal Information:
Plant and Soil, Vol. 454, Issue 1-2; ISSN 0032-079X
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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