Eleven years of crop diversification alters decomposition dynamics of litter mixtures incubated with soil
Abstract
Abstract Agricultural crop rotations have been shown to increase soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and microbial biomass. The mechanisms behind these increases remain unclear, but may be linked to the diversity of crop residue inputs to soil organic matter ( SOM ). We used a residue mixture incubation to examine how variation in long‐term diversity of plant communities in agroecosystems influences decomposition of residue mixtures, thus providing a comparison of the effects of plant diversification on decomposition in the long term (via crop rotation) and short term (via residue mixtures). Three crop residue mixtures, ranging in diversity from two to four species, were incubated for 360 d with soils from five crop rotations, ranging from monoculture corn (mC) to a complex five‐crop rotation. In response, we measured fundamental soil pools and processes underlying C and N cycling. These included soil respiration, inorganic N, microbial biomass, and extracellular enzymes. We hypothesized that soils with more diverse cropping histories would show greater synergistic mixture effects than mC. For most variables (except extracellular enzymes), crop rotation history, or the long‐term history of plant diversity in the field, had a stronger effect on soil processes than mixture composition. In contrast to our hypothesis, the mCmore »
- Authors:
-
- Department of Natural Resources and the Environment University of New Hampshire Durham New Hampshire 03824 USA
- Department of Natural Resources and the Environment University of New Hampshire Durham New Hampshire 03824 USA, Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan 48824 USA
- Department of Environmental Sciences University of Toledo Toledo Ohio 43604 USA
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDA; National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1290299
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1315840; OSTI ID: 1376236
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FC02-07ER64494; AC05-76RL01830; 2014-67019-21716; DEB 1027253
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Ecosphere
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Ecosphere Journal Volume: 7 Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 2150-8925
- Publisher:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; biodiversity; crop rotation; decomposition; extracellular enzyme activity; litter mixture; microbial biomass; mixture effect; nitrogen mineralization; plant biodiversity; respiration; soil fertility
Citation Formats
McDaniel, M. D., Grandy, A. S., Tiemann, L. K., and Weintraub, M. N. Eleven years of crop diversification alters decomposition dynamics of litter mixtures incubated with soil. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1002/ecs2.1426.
McDaniel, M. D., Grandy, A. S., Tiemann, L. K., & Weintraub, M. N. Eleven years of crop diversification alters decomposition dynamics of litter mixtures incubated with soil. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1426
McDaniel, M. D., Grandy, A. S., Tiemann, L. K., and Weintraub, M. N. Thu .
"Eleven years of crop diversification alters decomposition dynamics of litter mixtures incubated with soil". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1426.
@article{osti_1290299,
title = {Eleven years of crop diversification alters decomposition dynamics of litter mixtures incubated with soil},
author = {McDaniel, M. D. and Grandy, A. S. and Tiemann, L. K. and Weintraub, M. N.},
abstractNote = {Abstract Agricultural crop rotations have been shown to increase soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and microbial biomass. The mechanisms behind these increases remain unclear, but may be linked to the diversity of crop residue inputs to soil organic matter ( SOM ). We used a residue mixture incubation to examine how variation in long‐term diversity of plant communities in agroecosystems influences decomposition of residue mixtures, thus providing a comparison of the effects of plant diversification on decomposition in the long term (via crop rotation) and short term (via residue mixtures). Three crop residue mixtures, ranging in diversity from two to four species, were incubated for 360 d with soils from five crop rotations, ranging from monoculture corn (mC) to a complex five‐crop rotation. In response, we measured fundamental soil pools and processes underlying C and N cycling. These included soil respiration, inorganic N, microbial biomass, and extracellular enzymes. We hypothesized that soils with more diverse cropping histories would show greater synergistic mixture effects than mC. For most variables (except extracellular enzymes), crop rotation history, or the long‐term history of plant diversity in the field, had a stronger effect on soil processes than mixture composition. In contrast to our hypothesis, the mC soil had nearly three and seven times greater synergistic mixture effects for respiration and microbial biomass N, respectively, compared with soils from crop rotations. This was due to the low response of the mC soils to poor quality residues (corn and wheat), likely resulting from a lack of available C and nutrients to cometabolize these residues. These results indicate that diversifying crop rotations in agricultural systems alter the decomposition dynamics of new residue inputs, which may be linked to the benefits of increasing crop rotation diversity on soil nutrient cycling, SOM dynamics, and yields.},
doi = {10.1002/ecs2.1426},
journal = {Ecosphere},
number = 8,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Aug 11 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Thu Aug 11 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1426
Web of Science
Works referenced in this record:
Crop rotation complexity regulates the decomposition of high and low quality residues
journal, November 2014
- McDaniel, M. D.; Grandy, A. S.; Tiemann, L. K.
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 78
The fumigation-extraction method to estimate soil microbial biomass: Calibration of the kEC value
journal, January 1996
- Joergensen, Rainer Georg
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 28, Issue 1
The macromolecular organic composition of plant and microbial residues as inputs to soil organic matter
journal, February 2002
- Kögel-Knabner, I.
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 34, Issue 2
The effects of long term nitrogen deposition on extracellular enzyme activity in an Acer saccharum forest soil
journal, September 2002
- Saiya-Cork, K. R.; Sinsabaugh, R. L.; Zak, D. R.
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 34, Issue 9
Interactions between residues of maize and pigeonpea and mineral N fertilizers during decomposition and N mineralization
journal, May 2000
- Sakala, Webster D.; Cadisch, George; Giller, Ken E.
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 32, Issue 5
Carbon and Nitrogen Mineralized from Leaves and Stems of Four Cover Crops
journal, January 1995
- Quemada, M.; Cabrera, M. L.
- Soil Science Society of America Journal, Vol. 59, Issue 2
Nitrogen and Phosphorus Release from Mixed Litter Layers is Lower than Predicted from Single Species Decay
journal, October 2008
- Ball, Becky A.; Bradford, Mark A.; Hunter, Mark D.
- Ecosystems, Vol. 12, Issue 1
Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity
journal, June 2012
- Cardinale, Bradley J.; Duffy, J. Emmett; Gonzalez, Andrew
- Nature, Vol. 486, Issue 7401
Does initial litter chemistry explain litter mixture effects on decomposition?
journal, December 2003
- Hoorens, Bart; Aerts, Rien; Stroetenga, Martin
- Oecologia, Vol. 137, Issue 4
Microbial responses to nitrogen addition in three contrasting grassland ecosystems
journal, August 2007
- Zeglin, Lydia H.; Stursova, Martina; Sinsabaugh, Robert L.
- Oecologia, Vol. 154, Issue 2
Nitrogen transfer between decomposing leaves of different N status
journal, July 2007
- Schimel, Joshua P.; Hättenschwiler, Stephan
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 39, Issue 7
A protocol for data exploration to avoid common statistical problems: Data exploration
journal, November 2009
- Zuur, Alain F.; Ieno, Elena N.; Elphick, Chris S.
- Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 1, Issue 1
Consequences of biodiversity loss for litter decomposition across biomes
journal, May 2014
- Handa, I. Tanya; Aerts, Rien; Berendse, Frank
- Nature, Vol. 509, Issue 7499
Impacts of tree species diversity on litter decomposition in northern temperate forests of Wisconsin, USA: a multi-site experiment along a latitudinal gradient
journal, February 2007
- Madritch, Michael D.; Cardinale, Bradley J.
- Plant and Soil, Vol. 292, Issue 1-2
Litter mixture effects on decomposition in tropical montane rainforests vary strongly with time and turn negative at later stages of decay
journal, October 2014
- Butenschoen, Olaf; Krashevska, Valentyna; Maraun, Mark
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 77
Microbial Biomass and Community Structure in a Sequence of Soils with Increasing Fertility and Changing Land Use
journal, August 2000
- Yao, H.; He, Z.; Wilson, M. J.
- Microbial Ecology, Vol. 40, Issue 3
Mixed leaf litter effects on decomposition rates and soil microarthropod communities in an oak–pine stand in Japan
journal, June 1999
- Kaneko, Nobuhiro; Salamanca, Eric
- Ecological Research, Vol. 14, Issue 2
Soil Microbial Community Response to Land Use Change in an Agricultural Landscape of Western Kenya
journal, January 2005
- Bossio, D. A.; Girvan, M. S.; Verchot, L.
- Microbial Ecology, Vol. 49, Issue 1
Links between plant litter chemistry, species diversity, and below-ground ecosystem function
journal, December 2008
- Meier, C. L.; Bowman, W. D.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 105, Issue 50
Rectangular Confidence Regions for the Means of Multivariate Normal Distributions
journal, June 1967
- Sidak, Zbynek
- Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 62, Issue 318
Management intensity alters decomposition via biological pathways
journal, August 2010
- Wickings, Kyle; Stuart Grandy, A.; Reed, Sasha
- Biogeochemistry, Vol. 104, Issue 1-3
Interactions in decomposition and N mineralization between tropical legume residue components
journal, April 2007
- Thippayarugs, Srisuda; Toomsan, Banyong; Vityakon, Patma
- Agroforestry Systems, Vol. 72, Issue 2
Spectrophotometric Determination of Nitrate with a Single Reagent
journal, January 2003
- Doane, Timothy A.; Horwáth, William R.
- Analytical Letters, Vol. 36, Issue 12
Nonadditive effects of litter mixtures on decomposition and correlation with initial litter N and P concentrations in grassland plant species of northern China
journal, April 2007
- Liu, Ping; Sun, Osbert J.; Huang, Jianhui
- Biology and Fertility of Soils, Vol. 44, Issue 1
How the chemical composition and heterogeneity of crop residue mixtures decomposing at the soil surface affects C and N mineralization
journal, November 2014
- Redin, Marciel; Recous, Sylvie; Aita, Celso
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 78
Plant diversity increases soil microbial activity and soil carbon storage
journal, April 2015
- Lange, Markus; Eisenhauer, Nico; Sierra, Carlos A.
- Nature Communications, Vol. 6, Issue 1
Effects of Crop Diversity on Agroecosystem Function: Crop Yield Response
journal, March 2008
- Smith, Richard G.; Gross, Katherine L.; Robertson, G. Philip
- Ecosystems, Vol. 11, Issue 3
Carbon mineralization of tree leaf litter and crop residues from poplar-based agroforestry systems in Northeast China: A laboratory study
journal, February 2010
- Zeng, De-Hui; Mao, Rong; Chang, Scott X.
- Applied Soil Ecology, Vol. 44, Issue 2
Changes in microbial biomass C, extractable C and available N during the early stages of decomposition of residue mixtures
journal, January 2014
- Shi, Andong; Marschner, Petra
- Soil Research, Vol. 52, Issue 4
Connecting litter quality, microbial community and nitrogen transfer mechanisms in decomposing litter mixtures
journal, January 2012
- Lummer, Dennis; Scheu, Stefan; Butenschoen, Olaf
- Oikos, Vol. 121, Issue 10
Crop rotational diversity enhances belowground communities and functions in an agroecosystem
journal, May 2015
- Tiemann, L. K.; Grandy, A. S.; Atkinson, E. E.
- Ecology Letters, Vol. 18, Issue 8
Biodiversity and Litter Decomposition in Terrestrial Ecosystems
journal, December 2005
- Hättenschwiler, Stephan; Tiunov, Alexei V.; Scheu, Stefan
- Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, Vol. 36, Issue 1
Fungal translocation as a mechanism for soil nitrogen inputs to surface residue decomposition in a no-tillage agroecosystem
journal, May 2000
- Frey, S. D.; Elliott, E. T.; Paustian, K.
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 32, Issue 5
The Influence of Functional Diversity and Composition on Ecosystem Processes
journal, August 1997
- Tilman, D.
- Science, Vol. 277, Issue 5330
Microbial substrate preference and community dynamics during decomposition of Acer saccharum
journal, December 2011
- Rinkes, Zachary L.; Weintraub, Michael N.; DeForest, Jared L.
- Fungal Ecology, Vol. 4, Issue 6
Linkages between plant litter diversity, soil microbial biomass and ecosystem function in temperate grasslands
journal, February 1999
- Bardgett, Richard D.; Shine, Amanda
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 31, Issue 2
An extraction method for measuring soil microbial biomass C
journal, January 1987
- Vance, E. D.; Brookes, P. C.; Jenkinson, D. S.
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 19, Issue 6
Chloroform fumigation and the release of soil nitrogen: A rapid direct extraction method to measure microbial biomass nitrogen in soil
journal, January 1985
- Brookes, P. C.; Landman, Andrea; Pruden, G.
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 17, Issue 6
Relative impacts of land-use, management intensity and fertilization upon soil microbial community structure in agricultural systems
journal, November 2008
- Jangid, Kamlesh; Williams, Mark A.; Franzluebbers, Alan J.
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 40, Issue 11
Climate, Leaf Litter Chemistry and Leaf Litter Decomposition in Terrestrial Ecosystems: A Triangular Relationship
journal, September 1997
- Aerts, Rien
- Oikos, Vol. 79, Issue 3
Enigmatic Biodiversity Correlations: Ant Diversity Responds to Diverse Resources
journal, April 2004
- Armbrecht, I.
- Science, Vol. 304, Issue 5668
Effects of Biodiversity on Ecosystem Functioning: a Consensus of Current Knowledge
journal, February 2005
- Hooper, D. U.; Chapin, F. S.; Ewel, J. J.
- Ecological Monographs, Vol. 75, Issue 1
Chemical composition and diversity influence non-additive effects of litter mixtures on soil carbon and nitrogen cycling: Implications for plant species loss
journal, September 2010
- Meier, Courtney L.; Bowman, William D.
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 42, Issue 9
Phenol oxidase, peroxidase and organic matter dynamics of soil
journal, March 2010
- Sinsabaugh, Robert L.
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 42, Issue 3
Crop Rotation and Residue Management Effects on Soil Carbon and Microbial Dynamics
journal, January 1992
- Collins, H. P.; Rasmussen, P. E.; Douglas, C. L.
- Soil Science Society of America Journal, Vol. 56, Issue 3
Non-additive effects of invasive tree litter shift seasonal N release: a potential invasion feedback
journal, April 2014
- Schuster, Michael J.; Dukes, Jeffrey S.
- Oikos, Vol. 123, Issue 9
Influence of current and previous crops on soil basal and potential denitrification rates
journal, July 2011
- Guo, Xiaobin; Drury, Craig F.; Yang, Xueming
- Biology and Fertility of Soils, Vol. 47, Issue 8
Carbon structure and enzyme activities in alpine and forest ecosystems
journal, November 2007
- Grandy, A. Stuart; Neff, Jason C.; Weintraub, Michael N.
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 39, Issue 11
Consistent effects of nitrogen amendments on soil microbial communities and processes across biomes
journal, February 2012
- Ramirez, Kelly S.; Craine, Joseph M.; Fierer, Noah
- Global Change Biology, Vol. 18, Issue 6
Plant Communities, Soil Microorganisms, and Soil Carbon Cycling: Does Altering the World Belowground Matter to Ecosystem Functioning?
journal, November 2005
- Carney, Karen M.; Matson, Pamela A.
- Ecosystems, Vol. 8, Issue 8
Non-additive effects vary with the number of component residues and their mixing proportions during residue mixture decomposition: A microcosm study
journal, January 2012
- Mao, Rong; Zeng, De-Hui
- Geoderma, Vol. 170
Biodiversity and Plant Litter: Experimental Evidence Which Does Not Support the View That Enhanced Species Richness Improves Ecosystem Function
journal, June 1997
- Wardle, D. A.; Bonner, K. I.; Nicholson, K. S.
- Oikos, Vol. 79, Issue 2
Ecological Linkages Between Aboveground and Belowground Biota
journal, June 2004
- Wardle, D. A.
- Science, Vol. 304, Issue 5677
The origin of litter chemical complexity during decomposition
journal, August 2012
- Wickings, Kyle; Grandy, A. Stuart; Reed, Sasha C.
- Ecology Letters, Vol. 15, Issue 10
Field and lab conditions alter microbial enzyme and biomass dynamics driving decomposition of the same leaf litter
journal, January 2013
- Rinkes, Zachary L.; Sinsabaugh, Robert L.; Moorhead, Daryl L.
- Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol. 4
Decomposition dynamics in mixed-species leaf litter
journal, February 2004
- Gartner, Tracy B.; Cardon, Zoe G.
- Oikos, Vol. 104, Issue 2
Differential controls by climate and substrate over the heterotrophic and rhizospheric components of soil respiration
journal, February 2006
- Scott-Denton, Laura E.; Rosenstiel, Todd N.; Monson, Russell K.
- Global Change Biology, Vol. 12, Issue 2
Does agricultural crop diversity enhance soil microbial biomass and organic matter dynamics? A meta-analysis
journal, April 2014
- McDaniel, M. D.; Tiemann, L. K.; Grandy, A. S.
- Ecological Applications, Vol. 24, Issue 3
Context dependency of litter-mixing effects on decomposition and nutrient release across a long-term chronosequence: Micael Jonsson
journal, October 2008
- Jonsson, Micael; Wardle, David A.
- Oikos, Vol. 117, Issue 11