Divergent accumulation of amino sugars and lignins mediated by soil functional carbon pools under tropical forest conversion

Journal Article · Mon Apr 10 00:00:00 UTC 2023 · Science of the Total Environment

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163204 · OSTI ID:2424435

Li, Tengteng ^[1]; Cheng, Hao ^[2]; Li, Yue ^[1]; Mou, Zhijian ^[3]; Zhu, Xiaomin ^[1]; Wu, Wenjia ^[1]; Zhang, Jing ^[1]; Kuang, Luhui ^[1]; Wang, Jun ^[1]; Hui, Dafeng ^[4]; Lambers, Hans ^[5]; Sardans, Jordi ^[6]; Peñuelas, Josep ^[6]; Ren, Hai ^[1]; Mohti, Azian Binti ^[7]; Liang, Naishen ^[8]; Liu, Zhanfeng ^[1]

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1. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou (China); South China Botanical Garden, Guangzhou (China); South China National Botanical Garden, Guangzhou (China)
2. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
3. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou (China); South China Botanical Garden, Guangzhou (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
4. Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN (United States)
5. University of Western Australia, Perth, WA (Australia)
6. CSIC, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Catalonia (Spain); CREAF, Catalonia (Spain)
7. Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Selangor (Malaysia)
8. National Institute for Environmental Studies, Ibaraki (Japan)

Tropical primary forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate and converted for other land uses which is expected to greatly influence soil carbon (C) cycling. However, our understanding of how tropical forest conversions affect the accumulation of compounds in soil functional C pools remains unclear. Here, we collected soils from primary forests (PF), secondary forests (SF), oil-palm (OP), and rubber plantations (RP), and assessed the accumulation of plant- and microbial-derived compounds within soil organic carbon (SOC), particulate (POC) and mineral-associated (MAOC) organic C. PF conversion to RP greatly decreased SOC, POC, and MAOC concentrations, whereas conversion to SF increased POC concentrations and decreased MAOC concentrations, and conversion to OP only increased POC concentrations. PF conversion to RP decreased lignin concentrations and increased amino sugar concentrations in SOC pools which increased the stability of SOC, whereas conversion to SF only increased the lignin concentrations in POC, and conversion to OP just increased lignin concentrations in POC and decreased it in MAOC. We observed divergent dynamics of amino sugars (decrease) and lignin (increase) in SOC with increasing SOC. Only lignin concentrations increased in POC with increasing POC and amino sugars concentrations decreased in MAOC with increasing MAOC. Conversion to RP significantly decreased soil enzyme activities and microbial biomasses. Lignin accumulation was associated with microbial properties, whereas amino sugar accumulation was mainly associated with soil nutrients and stoichiometries. These results suggest that the divergent accumulation of plant- and microbial-derived C in SOC was delivered by the distribution and original composition of functional C pools under forest conversions. Forest conversions changed the formation and stabilization processes of SOC in the long run which was associated with converted plantations and management. As a result, the important roles of soil nutrients and stoichiometry also provide a natural-based solution to enhance SOC sequestration via nutrient management in tropical forests.

• Research Organization: Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 2424435
• Journal Information: Science of the Total Environment, Journal Name: Science of the Total Environment Journal Issue: C Vol. 881; ISSN 0048-9697
• Publisher: ElsevierCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English