Susceptibility of new soil organic carbon to mineralization during dry-wet cycling in soils from contrasting ends of a precipitation gradient

Wilhelm, Roland C.; Lynch, Laurel; Webster, Tara M.; Schweizer, Steffen; Inagaki, Thiago M.; Tfaily, Malak M.; Kukkadapu, Ravi; Hoeschen, Carmen; Buckley, Daniel H.; Lehmann, Johannes

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2022.108681

Susceptibility of new soil organic carbon to mineralization during dry-wet cycling in soils from contrasting ends of a precipitation gradient

Journal Article · Mon Apr 25 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Soil Biology and Biochemistry

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2022.108681· OSTI ID:1868350

^[1]; Lynch, Laurel ^[2]; Webster, Tara M. ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[5]; ^[6]; ^[7]; ^[4]; Buckley, Daniel H. ^[1]; Lehmann, Johannes ^[8]

Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, ID (United States)
Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Cooperative Inst. for Research in Environmental Sciences
Technical Univ. of Munich, Freising (Germany)
Technical Univ. of Munich, Freising (Germany); Technical Univ. of Munich, Garching (Germany). Inst. for Advanced Study
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL); Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Technical Univ. of Munich, Garching (Germany). Inst. for Advanced Study; Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability

The persistence of soil organic carbon (SOC) is influenced by soil physicochemical properties, organic matter quality, and climatic conditions that govern its vulnerability to microbial activity. We compared the susceptibility of newly formed SOC to mineralization in two soils (Andosols) that developed under contrasting precipitation regimes. Soil from the high rainfall region (‘high_rain’) had higher SOC and lower iron concentrations than soils exposed to less rainfall (‘low_rain’). We amended soils with ¹³C-labeled carbohydrates and measured the amount of substrate-derived SO¹³C mineralized when exposed to dry-wet cycling following months-long incubations. We hypothesized that susceptibility would differ due to iron content and mineralogy, initial SOC, substrate solubility (cellulose versus glucose amendment), and microbial substrate use efficiency (SUE). We found that SO¹³C was less susceptible to dry-wet cycling when more ¹³C was assimilated into microbial biomass and co-localized with mineral surfaces than when co-localized with existing organo-mineral surfaces, according to microscale NanoSIMS imaging. Considerably less SO¹³C was susceptible to mineralization in the ferrihydrite-rich (low SOC) low_rain soil than the leached (high SOC) high_rain soil when C was added as either glucose (7.3-fold less C mineralized) or cellulose (15.2-fold less). Additionally, the SUE of glucose was comparable to cellulose in low_rain soil where SO¹³C was less water soluble and coprecipitated with ferrihydrite, and used half as efficiently as cellulose in high_rain soil. Our results show that the susceptibility of newly formed SOC to mineralization is modified by the effects of bioavailability on microbial metabolism and the availability of mineral surfaces for forming new organo-mineral complexes.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: German Excellence Initiative; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830; SC0014664; SC0016364

OSTI ID:: 1868350

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-157922

Journal Information:: Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Journal Name: Soil Biology and Biochemistry Vol. 169; ISSN 0038-0717

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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