Seasonal Controls on Microbial Depolymerization and Oxidation of Organic Matter in Floodplain Soils

Anderson, Cam G.; Anderson, Cam G.; Chu, Rosalie K.; Tolić, Nikola; Fox, Patricia M.; Nico, Peter S.; Fendorf, Scott; Keiluweit, Marco

doi:10.1021/acs.est.4c05109

Seasonal Controls on Microbial Depolymerization and Oxidation of Organic Matter in Floodplain Soils

Journal Article · Sun Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2024 · Environmental Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c05109· OSTI ID:2560688

^[1]; ^[2]; Chu, Rosalie K. ^[3]; ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[4]; ^[5]; ^[6]

Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States)
Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
University of Lausanne (Switzerland)

Floodplain soils are vast reservoirs of organic carbon often attributed to anaerobic conditions that impose metabolic constraints on organic matter degradation. What remains elusive is how such metabolic constraints respond to dynamic flooding and drainage cycles characteristic of floodplain soils. Here, in this work, we show that microbial depolymerization and respiration of organic compounds, two rate-limiting steps in decomposition, vary spatially and temporally with seasonal flooding of mountainous floodplain soils (Gothic, Colorado, USA). Combining metabolomics and -proteomics, we found a lower abundance of oxidative enzymes during flooding coincided with the accumulation of aromatic, high-molecular weight compounds, particularly in surface soils. In subsurface soils, we found that a lower oxidation state of carbon coincided with a greater abundance of chemically reduced, energetically less favorable low-molecular weight metabolites, irrespective of flooding condition. Our results suggest that seasonal flooding temporarily constrains oxidative depolymerization of larger, potentially plant-derived compounds in surface soils; in contrast, energetic constraints on microbial respiration persist in more reducing subsurface soils regardless of flooding. Our work underscores that the potential vulnerability of these distinct anaerobic carbon storage mechanisms to changing flooding dynamics should be considered, particularly as climate change shifts both the frequency and extent of flooding in floodplains globally.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

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

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

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; AC05-76RL01830; SC0016544

OSTI ID:: 2560688

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA--201526

Journal Information:: Environmental Science and Technology, Journal Name: Environmental Science and Technology Journal Issue: 38 Vol. 58; ISSN 0013-936X

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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