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Molecular-level changes in soil organic matter composition after 10 years of litter, root and nitrogen manipulation in a temperate forest

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Abstract

With climate change, forests are expected to receive increased inputs of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) but it is unclear how this will modify forest C cycling and storage at the molecular-level. To investigate the response of forest soil organic matter (SOM) to changes in soil inputs, a study area was established in a Michigan hardwood forest as part of the Detrital Input and Removal Treatments (DIRT) network. Experimental treatments were comprised of both exclusions of detrital inputs (No Litter, No Roots, No Inputs) and additions of C and N (Double Litter, N-Addition, Double Litter + N, Wood). After 10 years of treatment, the soils were characterized using elemental analysis, molecular biomarker techniques, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and microbial biomass C measurements. Although manipulation of detrital inputs did not significantly change the soil C and N content after 10 years, alterations in the cycling and distribution of SOM components were observed. Root exclusion enhanced SOM degradation, while doubling litter favoured the degradation of more labile forms of soil C such as unsaturated n-alkanoic acids and simple sugars. N-Addition and Double Litter + N increased the concentrations of extractable biomarkers, including aliphatic and cyclic lipids and compounds derived from cutin, suberin, and lignin. Microbial biomass C also varied with experimental litter input manipulations and N addition, and these data were consistent with the observed changes in SOM composition. Overall, the observed shifts in SOM chemistry after 10 years of manipulating ecosystem inputs highlight the sensitivity of natural systems to changes in amounts of C and N inputs from roots and litter, and N inputs from external sources.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Mel Knorr at the University of New Hampshire for completing the microbial biomass measurements as well as Fatima Sultani and Dr Ronald Soong at the University of Toronto Scarborough for assistance with soil extraction and NMR acquisition, respectively. M.J.S. thanks Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for a Discovery Grant (#2015-05760) and a Discovery Accelerator Supplement (#478038-15). L.V. would like to thank NSERC for a Canada Graduate Scholarship. Funding for the experimental plots at the UMBS was provided by internal sources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 St George St, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H6, Canada

    Lori vandenEnden & Myrna J. Simpson

  2. Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences and Environmental NMR Centre, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, ON, M1C 1A4, Canada

    Lori vandenEnden & Myrna J. Simpson

  3. Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, 56 College Road, Durham, NH, 03824, USA

    Serita D. Frey

  4. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 830 N. University Ave, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Knute J. Nadelhoffer & James M. LeMoine

  5. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Oregon State University, 1500 SW Jefferson St, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Kate Lajtha

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  1. Lori vandenEnden
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  2. Serita D. Frey
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  3. Knute J. Nadelhoffer
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Correspondence to Myrna J. Simpson.

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vandenEnden, L., Frey, S.D., Nadelhoffer, K.J. et al. Molecular-level changes in soil organic matter composition after 10 years of litter, root and nitrogen manipulation in a temperate forest. Biogeochemistry 141, 183–197 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-018-0512-4

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