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Wu G, Huang G, Lin S, Huang Z, Cheng H, Su Y. Changes in soil organic carbon stocks and its physical fractions along an elevation in a subtropical mountain forest. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2024; 351:119823. [PMID: 38109822 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Revised: 11/23/2023] [Accepted: 11/26/2023] [Indexed: 12/20/2023]
Abstract
Soil microorganisms are the drivers of soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralization, and the activities of these microorganisms are considered to play a key role in SOC dynamics. However, studies of the relationship between soil microbial carbon metabolism and SOC stocks are rare, especially in different physical fractions (e.g., particulate organic carbon (POC) fraction and mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC) fraction). In this study, we investigated the changing patterns of SOC stocks, POC stocks, MAOC stocks and microbial carbon metabolism (e.g., microbial growth, carbon use efficiency and biomass turnover time) at 0-20 cm along an elevational gradient in a subtropical mountain forest ecosystem. Our results showed that SOC and POC stocks increased but MAOC stocks remained stable along the elevational gradient. Soil microbial growth increased while microbial turnover time decreased with elevation. Using structural equation modeling, we found that heightened microbial growth is associated with elevated POC stocks. Moreover, MAOC stocks positively correlate with microbial growth but show negative associations with both POC stocks and soil pH. Overall, the increase in SOC stocks along the elevational gradient is primarily driven by changes in POC stocks rather than MAOC stocks. These findings underscore the importance of considering diverse soil carbon fractions and microbial activities in predicting SOC responses to elevation, offering insights into potential climate change feedbacks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guopeng Wu
- School of Geographical Sciences, School of Carbon Neutrality Future Technology, Fujian Normal University, 1 Science and Technology Road, Qishan District, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350117, China.
| | - Gang Huang
- School of Geographical Sciences, School of Carbon Neutrality Future Technology, Fujian Normal University, 1 Science and Technology Road, Qishan District, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350117, China.
| | - Sinuo Lin
- School of Geographical Sciences, School of Carbon Neutrality Future Technology, Fujian Normal University, 1 Science and Technology Road, Qishan District, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350117, China.
| | - Zhengyi Huang
- School of Geographical Sciences, School of Carbon Neutrality Future Technology, Fujian Normal University, 1 Science and Technology Road, Qishan District, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350117, China.
| | - Hao Cheng
- School of Geographical Sciences, School of Carbon Neutrality Future Technology, Fujian Normal University, 1 Science and Technology Road, Qishan District, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350117, China
| | - Yangui Su
- School of Geographical Sciences, School of Carbon Neutrality Future Technology, Fujian Normal University, 1 Science and Technology Road, Qishan District, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350117, China.
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Liang C, Lehmann J. Multifactorial effects matter: Moving thermal adaptation into a real-world setting. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:566-568. [PMID: 36380698 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Revised: 11/01/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
We often study climate change impact by isolating various drivers and manipulating them at ideal state, despite that in reality those drivers change independent of each other and may produce unexpected results due to possible complex interacting effects over time. Even though global change experiments that examine multiple interacting global change factors are becoming more common, few have been applied to studies on thermal compensatory response of microbial respiration. We propose future studies on thermal adaptation to include multifactorial experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao Liang
- Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China
| | - Johannes Lehmann
- Soil and Crop Sciences, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
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