scholarly journals Direct evidence for microbial-derived soil organic matter formation and its ecophysiological controls

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia M. Kallenbach ◽  
Serita D. Frey ◽  
A. Stuart Grandy

AbstractSoil organic matter (SOM) and the carbon and nutrients therein drive fundamental submicron- to global-scale biogeochemical processes and influence carbon-climate feedbacks. Consensus is emerging that microbial materials are an important constituent of stable SOM, and new conceptual and quantitative SOM models are rapidly incorporating this view. However, direct evidence demonstrating that microbial residues account for the chemistry, stability and abundance of SOM is still lacking. Further, emerging models emphasize the stabilization of microbial-derived SOM by abiotic mechanisms, while the effects of microbial physiology on microbial residue production remain unclear. Here we provide the first direct evidence that soil microbes produce chemically diverse, stable SOM. We show that SOM accumulation is driven by distinct microbial communities more so than clay mineralogy, where microbial-derived SOM accumulation is greatest in soils with higher fungal abundances and more efficient microbial biomass production.

2021 ◽  
pp. 108302
Author(s):  
Gerrit Angst ◽  
Jan Pokorný ◽  
Carsten W. Mueller ◽  
Isabel Prater ◽  
Sebastian Preusser ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 770 ◽  
pp. 145307
Author(s):  
Mohammad Bahadori ◽  
Chengrong Chen ◽  
Stephen Lewis ◽  
Sue Boyd ◽  
Mehran Rezaei Rashti ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 345 ◽  
pp. 113-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Komarov ◽  
Oleg Chertov ◽  
Sergey Bykhovets ◽  
Cindy Shaw ◽  
Marina Nadporozhskaya ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. 108447
Author(s):  
Luís F.J. Almeida ◽  
Ivan F. Souza ◽  
Luís C.C. Hurtarte ◽  
Pedro Paulo Teixeira ◽  
Thiago M. Inagaki ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 841-855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertrand Guenet ◽  
Fernando Esteban Moyano ◽  
Philippe Peylin ◽  
Philippe Ciais ◽  
Ivan A Janssens

Abstract. Priming of soil carbon decomposition encompasses different processes through which the decomposition of native (already present) soil organic matter is amplified through the addition of new organic matter, with new inputs typically being more labile than the native soil organic matter. Evidence for priming comes from laboratory and field experiments, but to date there is no estimate of its impact at global scale and under the current anthropogenic perturbation of the carbon cycle. Current soil carbon decomposition models do not include priming mechanisms, thereby introducing uncertainty when extrapolating short-term local observations to ecosystem and regional to global scale. In this study we present a simple conceptual model of decomposition priming, called PRIM, able to reproduce laboratory (incubation) and field (litter manipulation) priming experiments. Parameters for this model were first optimized against data from 20 soil incubation experiments using a Bayesian framework. The optimized parameter values were evaluated against another set of soil incubation data independent from the ones used for calibration and the PRIM model reproduced the soil incubations data better than the original, CENTURY-type soil decomposition model, whose decomposition equations are based only on first-order kinetics. We then compared the PRIM model and the standard first-order decay model incorporated into the global land biosphere model ORCHIDEE (Organising Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic Ecosystems). A test of both models was performed at ecosystem scale using litter manipulation experiments from five sites. Although both versions were equally able to reproduce observed decay rates of litter, only ORCHIDEE–PRIM could simulate the observed priming (R2  =  0.54) in cases where litter was added or removed. This result suggests that a conceptually simple and numerically tractable representation of priming adapted to global models is able to capture the sign and magnitude of the priming of litter and soil organic matter.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edgar Galicia-Andrés ◽  
Yerko Escalona ◽  
Peter Grančič ◽  
Chris Oostenbrink ◽  
Daniel Tunega ◽  
...  

<p>It is well known that some fractions of soil organic matter (SOM) can resist to physical and (bio)chemical degradation which can be attributed to factors ranging from molecular properties to the preference for digesting other molecular species by microorganisms. Some mechanisms, by which organic matter is protected, are often referred to as: physical stabilization through microaggregation, chemical stabilization by formation of SOM-mineral aggregates, and biochemical stabilization through the formation of recalcitrant SOM.</p><p>Protection mechanisms are responsible for the accumulation process of organic carbon, reducing the exposure of organic matter and making it less vulnerable to microbial, enzymatic or chemical attacks. In these mechanisms, water molecular bridges and metal cation bridges play a key role. Cation bridges serve as aggregation sites on humic substances, forming dense matter, in comparison to systems where bridges are missing. This effect is enhanced in systems with cations at higher oxidation states.</p><p>By using the modeler tool developed in our group (Vienna Soil–Organic–Matter Modeler, VSOMM2) (Escalona et al., 2021), we generated aggregate models of humic substances at atomistic scale reflecting the diversity in composition, size and conformations of the constituting molecules. Further, we built models of organo-clay aggregates using kaolinite and montmorillonite as typical soil minerals. This allowed a systematic study to understand the effect of the surrounding environment at microscopic scale, not fully accessible experimentally.</p><p>Molecular simulations of the adsorption process of SOM aggregates on the reactive surfaces of led to two observations: 1) the humic substances aggregates were able to interact with the reactive surfaces mainly via hydrogen bonds forming stable organic matter-clay complexes and 2) the aggregates subsequently lost rigidity and stability after metal cations removing, consequently leading to a gradual loss of humic substance molecules, evidencing the role of metal cations in the protection mechanism of soil organic matter aggregates and possibly explaining its recalcitrance (Galicia-Andrés et al., 2021).</p><p>References</p><ul><li>Escalona, Y., Petrov, D., & Oostenbrink, C. (2021). Vienna soil organic matter modeler 2 (VSOMM2). Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling, 103, 107817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmgm.2020.107817</li> <li>Galicia-Andrés, E., Grančič, P., Gerzabek, M. H., Oostenbrink, C., & Tunega, D. (2021). Modeling of interactions in natural and synthetic organoclays. In I. C. Sainz Diaz (Ed.), Computational modeling in clay mineralogy.</li> </ul>


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1225-1248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy D. Robertson ◽  
Keith Paustian ◽  
Stephen Ogle ◽  
Matthew D. Wallenstein ◽  
Emanuele Lugato ◽  
...  

Abstract. Soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics in ecosystem-scale biogeochemical models have traditionally been simulated as immeasurable fluxes between conceptually defined pools. This greatly limits how empirical data can be used to improve model performance and reduce the uncertainty associated with their predictions of carbon (C) cycling. Recent advances in our understanding of the biogeochemical processes that govern SOM formation and persistence demand a new mathematical model with a structure built around key mechanisms and biogeochemically relevant pools. Here, we present one approach that aims to address this need. Our new model (MEMS v1.0) is developed from the Microbial Efficiency-Matrix Stabilization framework, which emphasizes the importance of linking the chemistry of organic matter inputs with efficiency of microbial processing and ultimately with the soil mineral matrix, when studying SOM formation and stabilization. Building on this framework, MEMS v1.0 is also capable of simulating the concept of C saturation and represents decomposition processes and mechanisms of physico-chemical stabilization to define SOM formation into four primary fractions. After describing the model in detail, we optimize four key parameters identified through a variance-based sensitivity analysis. Optimization employed soil fractionation data from 154 sites with diverse environmental conditions, directly equating mineral-associated organic matter and particulate organic matter fractions with corresponding model pools. Finally, model performance was evaluated using total topsoil (0–20 cm) C data from 8192 forest and grassland sites across Europe. Despite the relative simplicity of the model, it was able to accurately capture general trends in soil C stocks across extensive gradients of temperature, precipitation, annual C inputs and soil texture. The novel approach that MEMS v1.0 takes to simulate SOM dynamics has the potential to improve our forecasts of how soils respond to management and environmental perturbation. Ensuring these forecasts are accurate is key to effectively informing policy that can address the sustainability of ecosystem services and help mitigate climate change.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geofrey Soka ◽  
Mark Ritchie

<p>Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM fungi) and soil organic matter (SOM) can be important factors in soil fertility, cycling of nutrients, and plant productivity. It is still unclear whether greater AM fungi abundance is advantageous for plant productivity under nutrient-poor tropical soils despite the relatively common lack of phosphorus (P) and the purported benefit of AM fungi in obtaining and exchanging P with plants for carbon. We explored whether AM fungi and/or SOM augmented plant productivity in different field soils to test the hypotheses that AM fungi were important contributors to plant productivity and that the contribution by AM fungi is higher on soils with lower organic matter and presumably lower nutrient availability compared to soils with higher organic matter. We conducted a factorial experiment in the greenhouse with potted soils of either high or low organic matter (SOM) collected from each of three different land uses, grazed by wildlife in a protected area (Serengeti National Park, Tanzania), grazed by livestock, and cropland. Half the soils were sterilized to remove soil microbes, including AM fungi. Two grass species, Zea mays and Themeda triandra, were grown for 12 weeks in 8 replicates of each soil type and sterilization treatment. About 52.4% and 62.6% of Z. mays roots grown in non-sterilized soils were colonized by AM fungi in low and high SOM, respectively, and 38.1% and 46.7% of T. triandra roots grown in non-sterilized soils were colonized by AM fungi in low and high SOM respectively. Overall, the production of both plant species was significantly higher on control soils than sterilized soils, indicating that AM fungi likely contributed to productivity, and on soils with higher SOM. However, the separate contribution to the productivity of SOM and soil microbes varied significantly among plant species and soils from different land uses. Zea mays productivity increased most strongly to higher SOM, and declined with sterilization in agricultural, but not livestock or wildlife grazed soils. In contrast, T. triandra production was largely insensitive to SOM or sterilization except on wildlife-grazed soils, where it increased most strongly in unsterilized soils. Soil microbe impacts on productivity, therefore, may be driven more by host plant species than by lower nutrient supply, as associated with lower SOM. Furthermore, the results suggest that efforts to enhance productivity in uncultivated lands should perhaps focus on altering plant species composition, while efforts to enhance productivity in agriculture soils might not depend on beneficial soil microbes or additional fertilizer but instead on effective crop rotations to reduce soil pathogens.</p>


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