Decadal cycling within long-lived carbon pools revealed by dual isotopic analysis of mineral-associated soil organic matter

Springer Science and Business Media LLC - Tập 112 - Trang 111-125 - 2011
Sarah L. O’Brien1,2, Julie D. Jastrow3, Karis J. McFarlane4, Thomas P. Guilderson4, Miquel A. Gonzalez-Meler1
1Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago USA
2Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, USA
3Biosciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, USA
4Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, USA

Tóm tắt

Long-lived soil organic matter (SOM) pools are critical for the global carbon (C) cycle, but challenges in isolating such pools have inhibited understanding of their dynamics. We physically isolated particulate (>53 μm), silt-, and clay-sized organic matter from soils collected over two decades from a perennial C3 grassland established on long-term agricultural soil with a predominantly C4 isotopic signature. Silt- and clay-sized fractions were then subjected to a sequential chemical fractionation (acid hydrolysis followed by peroxide oxidation) to isolate long-lived C pools. We quantified 14C and the natural 13C isotopic label in the resulting fractions to identify and evaluate pools responsible for long-lived SOM. After removal of particulate organic matter (~14% of bulk soil C) sequential chemical treatment removed 80% of mineral-associated C. In all mineral-associated fractions, at least 55% of C4-derived C was retained 32 years after the switch to C3 inputs. However, C3–C increased substantially beginning ~25 years after the switch. Radiocarbon-based turnover times ranged from roughly 1200–3000 years for chemically resistant mineral-associated pools, although some pools turned over faster under C3 grassland than in a reference agricultural field, indicating that new material had entered some pools as early as 14 years after the vegetation switch. These findings provide further evidence that SOM chemistry does not always reflect SOM longevity and resistance to microbial decomposition. Even measureable SOM fractions that have extremely long mean turnover times (>1500 years) can have a substantial component that is dynamic over much shorter timescales.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Anderson DW, Paul EA (1984) Organo-mineral complexes and their study by radiocarbon dating. Soil Sci Soc Am J 48:298–301 Baldock JA, Skjemstad JO (2000) Role of the soil matrix and minerals in protecting natural organic materials against biological attack. Org Geochem 31:697–710 Balesdent J (1996) The significance of organic separates to carbon dynamics and its modeling in some cultivated soils. Eur J Soil Sci 47:485–493 Balesdent J, Mariotti A (1996) Measurement of soil organic matter turnover using 13C natural abundance. In: Boutton TW, Yamasaki S (eds) Mass spectrometry of soils. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 83–111 Balesdent J, Mariotti A, Guillet B (1987) Natural 13C abundance as a tracer for studies of soil organic matter dynamics. Soil Biol Biochem 19:25–30 Balesdent J, Wagner GH, Mariotti A (1988) Soil organic matter turnover in long-term field experiments as revealed by carbon-13 natural abundance. Soil Sci Soc Am J 52:118–124 Bosatta E, Ågren GI (1991) Dynamics of carbon and nitrogen in the organic matter of the soil: a generic theory. Am Nat 138:227–245 Bruun S, Thomsen IK, Christensen BT, Jensen LS (2008) In search of stable soil organic carbon fractions: a comparison of methods applied to soils labelled with 14C for 40 days or 40 years. Eur J Soil Sci 59:247–256 Cheshire MV, Dumat C, Fraser AR, Hillier S, Staunton S (2000) The interaction between soil organic matter and soil clay minerals by selective removal and controlled addition of organic matter. Eur J Soil Sci 51:497–509 Christensen BT (2001) Physical fractionation of soil and structural and functional complexity in organic matter turnover. Eur J Soil Sci 52:345–353 Crow SE, Swanston CW, Lajtha K, Brooks JR, Keirstead H (2007) Density fractionation of forest soils: methodological questions and interpretation of incubation results and turnover time in an ecosystem context. Biogeochemistry 85:69–90 Di Tizio A, Grego S (2008) Soil organic carbon balance using century model. In: Marinari S, Caporali F (eds) Soil carbon sequestration under organic farming in the mediterranean environment. Transworld Research Network, Kerala, pp 145–157 Dijkstra P, Ishizu A, Doucett R, Hart SC, Schwartz E, Menyailo OV, Hungate BA (2006) 13C and 15N natural abundance of the soil microbial biomass. Soil Biol Biochem 38:3257–3266 Eusterhues K, Rumpel C, Kogel-Knabner I (2005) Stabilization of soil organic matter isolated via oxidative degradation. Org Geochem 36:1567–1575 Falloon PD, Smith P (2000) Modelling refractory soil organic matter. Biol Fertil Soils 30:388–398 Favilli F, Egli M, Cherubini P, Sartori G, Haeberli W, Delbos E (2008) Comparison of different methods of obtaining a resilient organic matter fraction in Alpine soils. Geoderma 145:355–369 Francey RJ, Allison CE, Etheridge DM, Trudinger CM, Enting IG, Leuenberger M, Langenfelds RL, Michel E, Steele LP (1999) A 1000-year high precision record of δ13C in atmospheric CO2. Tellus 51B:170–193 Helfrich M, Flessa H, Mikutta R, Dreves A, Ludwig B (2007) Comparison of chemical fractionation methods for isolating stable soil organic carbon pools. Eur J Soil Sci 58:1316–1329 Hobbie EA, Werner RA (2004) Intramolecular, compound-specific, and bulk carbon isotope patterns in C3 and C4 plants: a review and synthesis. New Phytol 161:371–385 Hua Q, Barbetti M (2004) Review of tropospheric bomb 14C data for carbon cycle modeling and age calibration purposes. Radiocarbon 46:1273–1298 Jackson ML, Whittig LD, Pennington RP (1949) Segregation procedure for the mineralogical analysis of soils. Soil Sci Soc Proc 14:77–81 Jagadamma S, Lal R (2010) Integrating physical and chemical methods for isolating stable soil organic carbon. Geoderma 158:322–330 Jagadamma S, Lal R, Ussiri DAN, Trumbore SE, Mestelan S (2010) Evaluation of structural chemistry and isotopic signatures of refractory soil organic carbon isolated by wet oxidation methods. Biogeochemistry 98:29–44 Jastrow JD (1987) Changes in soil aggregation associated with tallgrass prairie restoration. Am J Bot 74:1656–1664 Jastrow JD (1996) Soil aggregate formation and the accrual of particulate and mineral-associated organic matter. Soil Biol Biochem 28:665–676 Jastrow JD, Boutton TW, Miller RM (1996) Carbon dynamics of aggregate-associated organic matter estimated by carbon-13 natural abundance. Soil Sci Soc Am J 60:801–807 Kaiser K, Guggenberger G (2007) Sorptive stabilization of organic matter by microporous goethite: sorption into small pores vs. surface complexation. Eur J Soil Sci 58:45–59 Kleber M (2010) What is recalcitrant soil organic matter? Environ Chem 7:320–332 Kleber M, Mikutta R, Torn MS, Jahn R (2005) Poorly crystalline mineral phases protect organic matter in acid subsoil horizons. Eur J Soil Sci 56:717–725 Kleber M, Nico PS, Plante A, Filley T, Kramer M, Swanston C, Sollins P (2011) Old and stable soil organic matter is not necessarily chemically recalcitrant: implications for modeling concepts and temperature sensitivity. Glob Change Biol 17:1097–1107 Kogel-Knabner I (2000) Analytical approaches for characterizing soil organic matter. Org Geochem 31:609–625 Krull ES, Swanston CW, Skjemstad JO, McGowan JA (2006) Importance of charcoal in determining the age and chemistry of organic carbon in surface soils. J Geophys Res 111:G04001. doi:10.1029/2006JG000194 Leavitt SW, Follett RF, Paul EA (1996) Estimation of slow- and fast-cycling soil organic carbon pools from 6 N HCl hydrolysis. Radiocarbon 38:231–239 Leifeld J, Kogel-Knabner I (2001) Organic carbon and nitrogen in fine soil fractions after treatment with hydrogen peroxide. Soil Biol Biochem 33:2155–2158 Liao JD, Boutton TW, Jastrow JD (2006) Organic matter turnover in soil physical fractions following woody plant invasion of grassland: evidence from natural 13C and 15N. Soil Biol Biochem 38:3197–3210 Long ES, Sweitzer RA, Diefenbach DR, Ben-David M (2005) Controlling for anthropogenically induced atmospheric variation in stable carbon isotope studies. Oecologia 146:148–156 Mayer LM (1994) Relationships between mineral surfaces and organic carbon concentrations in soils and sediments. Chem Geol 114:347–363 Mikutta R, Kleber M, Kaiser K, Jahn R (2005) Review: organic matter removal from soils using hydrogen peroxide, sodium hypochlorite, and disodium peroxodisulfate. Soil Sci Soc Am J 69:120–135 Monreal CM, Schulten H-R, Kodama H (1997) Age, turnover and molecular diversity of soil organic matter in aggregates of a Gleysol. Can J Soil Sci 77:379–388 Monreal CM, Sultan Y, Schnitzer M (2010) Soil organic matter in nano-scale structures of a cultivated Black Chernozem. Geoderma 159:237–242 O’Brien SL, Iversen CM (2009) Missing links in the root-soil organic matter continuum. New Phytol 184:513–516 O’Brien SL, Jastrow JD, Grimley DA, Gonzalez-Meler MA (2010) Moisture and vegetation controls on soil organic carbon and total nitrogen accumulation in restored grasslands. Glob Change Biol 16:2573–2588 Olk DC, Gregorich EG (2006) Overview of the symposium proceedings, “meaningful pools in detecting soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics”. Soil Sci Soc Am J 70:967–974 Parton WJ, Stewart JWB, Cole CV (1988) Dynamics of C, N, P and S in grassland soils: a model. Biogeochemistry 5:109–131 Paul EA, Collins HP, Leavitt SW (2001) Dynamics of resistant soil carbon of Midwestern agricultural soils measured by naturally occurring 14C abundance. Geoderma 104:239–256 Paul EA, Morris SJ, Conant RT, Plante AF (2006) Does the acid hydrolysis-incubation method measure meaningful soil organic carbon pools? Soil Sci Soc Am J 70:1023–1035 Paul S, Veldkamp E, Flessa H (2008) Differential response of mineral-associated organic matter in tropical soils formed in volcanic ashes and marine Tertiary sediment to treatment with HCl, NaOCl, and Na4P2O7. Soil Biol Biochem 40:1846–1855 Plante AF, Chenu C, Balabane M, Mariotti A, Righi D (2004) Peroxide oxidation of clay-associated organic matter in a cultivation chronosequence. Eur J Soil Sci 55:471–478 Plante AF, Conant RT, Paul EA, Paustian K, Six J (2006) Acid hydrolysis of easily dispersed and microaggregate-derived silt- and clay-sized fractions to isolate resistant soil organic matter. Eur J Soil Sci 57:456–467 Poirier N, Derenne S, Balesdent J, Chenu C, Bardoux G, Mariotti A, Largeau C (2006) Dynamics and origin of the non-hydrolysable organic fraction in a forest and a cultivated temperate soil, as determined by isotopic and microscopic studies. Eur J Soil Sci 57:719–730 Rovira P, Vallejo VR (2002) Mineralization of carbon and nitrogen from plant debris, as affected by debris size and depth of burial. Soil Biol Biochem 34:327–339 Six J, Jastrow JD (2002) Organic matter turnover. In: Lal R (ed) Encyclopedia of soil science. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 936–942 Six J, Elliott ET, Paustian K (2000) Soil macroaggregate turnover and microaggregate formation: a mechanism for C sequestration under no-tillage agriculture. Soil Biol Biochem 32:2099–2103 Smith JU, Smith P, Monaghan R, MacDonald AJ (2002) When is a measured soil organic matter fraction equivalent to a model pool? Eur J Soil Sci 53:405–416 Sohi SP, Mahieu N, Arah JRM, Powlson DS, Madari B, Gaunt JL (2001) A procedure for isolating soil organic matter fractions suitable for modeling. Soil Sci Soc Am J 65:1121–1128 Sohi SP, Mahieu N, Powlson DS, Madari B, Smittenberg RH, Gaunt JL (2005) Investigating the chemical characteristics of soil organic matter fractions suitable for modeling. Soil Sci Soc Am J 69:1248–1255 Stuiver M, Reimer PJ, Braziunas TF (1998) High-precision radiocarbon age calibration for terrestrial and marine samples. Radiocarbon 40:1127–1151 Torn MS, Swanston CW, Castanha C, Trumbore SE (2009) Storage and turnover of organic matter in soil. In: Senesi N, Xing B, Huang PM (eds) Biophysico-chemical processes involving natural nonliving organic matter in environmental systems. Wiley, New York, pp 219–272 Trumbore SE (1997) Potential responses of soil organic carbon to global environmental change. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94:8284–8291 Trumbore SE (2009) Radiocarbon and soil carbon dynamics. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 37:47–66 Turchenek LW, Oades JM (1979) Fractionation of organomineral complexes by sedimentation and density techniques. Geoderma 21:311–343 Virto I, Barré P, Chenu C (2008) Microaggregation and organic matter storage at the silt-size scale. Geoderma 146:326–335 Vogel JS, Southon JR, Nelson De, Brown TA (1984) Performance of catalytically condensed carbon for use in accelerator mass spectrometry. Nucl Instrum Methods B 5:289–293 Von Lutzow M, Kogel-Knabner I (2010) Response to the concept paper: “What is recalcitrant soil organic matter?” by Markus Kleber. Environ Chem 7:333–335 Von Lutzow M, Kogel-Knabner I, Ekschmitt K, Flessa H, Guggenberger G, Matzner E, Marschner B (2007) SOM fractionation methods: relevance to functional pools and to stabilization mechanisms. Soil Biol Biochem 39:2183–2207 Zimmermann M, Leifeld J, Schmidt MWI, Smith P, Fuhrer J (2007) Measured soil organic matter fractions can be related to pools in the RothC model. Eur J Soil Sci 58:658–667