Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

Arbuscular mycorrhizal trees cause a higher carbon to nitrogen ratio of soil organic matter decomposition via rhizosphere priming than ectomycorrhizal trees

Journal Article · · Soil Biology and Biochemistry
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6]
  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenyang (China); Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenyang (China)
  2. Univ. of Sydney, NSW (Australia)
  3. Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States)
  4. Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
  5. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenyang (China)
  6. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Tree roots and their associated microbes can significantly influence soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition, i.e., the rhizosphere priming effect. This effect is expected to be greater in trees associated with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, which produce higher extracellular enzymes especially surrounding hyphae, than in trees associated with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi. In this work, we selected five tree species associated with AM (Juglans mandshurica Maxim. and Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook.) or ECM (Picea koraiensis Nakai, Quercus mongolica Fischer ex Turcz. and Larix kaempferi (Lamb.) Carriere). We grew tree seedlings inside of cores lined with different mesh sizes to investigate how roots, hyphae and exudates influence soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) mineralization via the rhizosphere priming effect, using a13C natural abundance approach and a15N pool dilution method, concurrently. We found that tree seedlings significantly accelerated soil C decomposition by on average 78%, i.e., positive priming, compared to unplanted control pots. AM-associated trees induced 2.1 times greater soil C decomposition than ECM-associated trees across all mesh sizes. In contrast, gross N mineralization did not differ between tree-mycorrhizal associations. Compared to ECM counterparts, AM-associated trees had higher C- and lower N-degrading enzyme activities. Consequently, AM-associated trees induced a significantly higher C:N ratio of SOM decomposition than their ECM counterparts, which could be associated with the differences in soil enzyme activities for C and N degradation. Further, for both AM- and ECM-associated trees, we found no significant influences of mesh size on soil C decomposition, suggesting that the rhizosphere priming effect of mycorrhizal symbiosis was predominantly driven by root exudates. We conclude that SOM decomposition caused by AM-associated trees may have a higher C:N ratio than that by ECM-associated trees mainly due to differences in microbial enzyme investment. Our findings imply that tree-mycorrhizal associations are capable of modulating soil biogeochemical cycling via the rhizosphere priming effect.
Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Key Research and Development Program of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0016188
OSTI ID:
1852117
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1777000
Journal Information:
Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Journal Name: Soil Biology and Biochemistry Journal Issue: C Vol. 157; ISSN 0038-0717
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (49)

Experimental evidence that mycorrhizal nitrogen strategies affect soil carbon journal May 2017
Microbial Community Responses to Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Enrichment in a Warm-Temperate Forest journal March 2006
Minerals in the rhizosphere: overlooked mediators of soil nitrogen availability to plants and microbes journal June 2018
Arbuscular mycorrhizal hyphae promote priming of native soil organic matter mineralisation journal May 2016
Review of mechanisms and quantification of priming effects journal October 2000
The effects of long term nitrogen deposition on extracellular enzyme activity in an Acer saccharum forest soil journal September 2002
Changes in microbial communities and carbohydrate profiles induced by the mycorrhizal fungus (Glomus intraradices) in rhizosphere of olive trees (Olea europaea L.) journal March 2014
Does accelerated soil organic matter decomposition in the presence of plants increase plant N availability? journal June 2009
Fungi mediate long term sequestration of carbon and nitrogen in soil through their priming effect journal January 2011
Root-induced changes in nutrient cycling in forests depend on exudation rates journal November 2014
Contribution of exudates, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and litter depositions to the rhizosphere priming effect induced by grassland species journal January 2015
Greater variations of rhizosphere effects within mycorrhizal group than between mycorrhizal group in a temperate forest journal November 2018
Arbuscular mycorrhiza enhances rhizodeposition and reduces the rhizosphere priming effect on the decomposition of soil organic matter journal January 2020
Organic matter priming by invasive plants depends on dominant mycorrhizal association journal January 2020
Plant nutrient-acquisition strategies change with soil age journal February 2008
Polyphenol control of nitrogen release from pine litter journal September 1995
Climate-smart soils journal April 2016
Soil carbon storage informed by particulate and mineral-associated organic matter journal November 2019
Mycorrhizas and nutrient cycling in ecosystems - a journey towards relevance? journal March 2003
Microbial mechanisms and ecosystem flux estimation for aerobic NO y emissions from deciduous forest soils journal January 2019
Fungal communities influence root exudation rates in pine seedlings journal November 2012
Mycorrhizal types differ in ecophysiology and alter plant nutrition and soil processes journal May 2019
Ectomycorrhizal fungi slow soil carbon cycling journal June 2016
Feedbacks between plant N demand and rhizosphere priming depend on type of mycorrhizal association journal July 2017
Rhizosphere processes are quantitatively important components of terrestrial carbon and nutrient cycles journal January 2015
Tree mycorrhizal type predicts within-site variability in the storage and distribution of soil organic matter journal April 2018
Rhizosphere priming effect increases the temperature sensitivity of soil organic matter decomposition: RPE ENHANCES Q10 OF SOM DECOMPOSITION journal November 2010
Mycorrhizal networks mediate overstorey-understorey competition in a temperate forest: Mycorrhizal networks and plant competition journal May 2004
A new method which gives an objective measure of colonization of roots by vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi journal July 1990
Plants actively control nitrogen cycling: uncorking the microbial bottleneck journal January 2006
Influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal mycelial exudates on soil bacterial growth and community structure: Effects of AM mycelial exudates on soil bacteria journal August 2007
The mycorrhizal-associated nutrient economy: a new framework for predicting carbon-nutrient couplings in temperate forests journal April 2013
Synthesis and modeling perspectives of rhizosphere priming journal August 2013
Exploring the transfer of recent plant photosynthates to soil microbes: mycorrhizal pathway vs direct root exudation journal November 2014
Mycorrhizal ecology and evolution: the past, the present, and the future journal February 2015
Mycorrhizal type determines the magnitude and direction of root-induced changes in decomposition in a temperate forest journal January 2015
Redefining fine roots improves understanding of below-ground contributions to terrestrial biosphere processes journal March 2015
Similar below-ground carbon cycling dynamics but contrasting modes of nitrogen cycling between arbuscular mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal forests journal September 2016
Dominant mycorrhizal association of trees alters carbon and nutrient cycling by selecting for microbial groups with distinct enzyme function journal December 2016
Mycorrhizal fungi as drivers and modulators of terrestrial ecosystem processes journal January 2017
Rhizosphere priming effects on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics among tree species with and without intraspecific competition journal March 2018
Plant nutrient‐acquisition strategies drive topsoil microbiome structure and function journal May 2020
Mycorrhizal Fungi as Mediators of Soil Organic Matter Dynamics journal November 2019
Mycorrhizal Controls on Belowground Litter Quality journal September 2003
Seasonality of soil microbial nitrogen turnover in continental steppe soils of Inner Mongolia journal April 2012
Equations for Following Nutrient Transformations in Soil, Utilizing Tracer Data1 journal January 1954
Rhizosphere Effects on Decomposition journal January 2003
Soil Mineralogy Affects Conifer Forest Soil Carbon Source Utilization and Microbial Priming journal January 2007
Stoichiometry constrains microbial response to root exudation- insights from a model and a field experiment in a temperate forest journal January 2013

Similar Records

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Agriculture
Enzyme stoichiometry
Gross nitrogen mineralization
Mycorrhizal fungi
Rhizosphere priming
Soil carbon mineralization
Tree seedlings