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Relations of mineral-soil C and N to climate and texture: regional differences within the conterminous USA

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Abstract

Soil is a prominent component of terrestrial C and N budgets. Soil C and N pools are influenced by, and may reciprocally influence, many environmental factors. Our objective was to determine the quantitative relations of surface mineral-soil organic C, N, and C/N ratios to climate and soil texture across seven ecological regions that make up the conterminous USA. Up to 608 soil profiles per region and their corresponding climates were evaluated with regression analysis. The organic C pool (kg C m−2) in the upper 20 cm of mineral soil was positively related to mean annual precipitation, evapotranspiration and clay content in all regions. It was negatively related to a temperature/precipitation index in all regions and negatively related to mean annual temperature, except in the northwest temperate forest region. Soil C/N ratios were negatively related to clay or silt content in all regions. These relations are consistent with concepts of moisture and temperature controls on detrital production, differential effects of temperature on detrital production and decomposition, and stabilization of organic matter by clay and silt. Differences in quantitative relations among regions may be related to vegetation-composition effects on soil organic matter processes, clay mineralogy, and faunal mixing of surface organic horizons with mineral soil. Regional differences also occurred in the importance of climate vs. soil texture in explaining the variability in soil C. The regional differences indicate the importance of using region-specific, rather than generalized, equations for projecting long-term soil responses to climate change and for conducting ecosystem-model calibration or validation.

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Abbreviations

AET:

Actual evapotranspiration

MAP:

Mean annual precipitation

MAT:

Mean annual temperature

SOC:

Mineral-soil organic carbon

USA:

United States of America

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Acknowledgements

We thank John Kimble for his continued efforts to make funds and soil data available for environmental research. We thank Chris Daly and the Oregon Climate Service for access to PRISM climate layers. Major funding was provided by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, under NRCS agreement number 68-7482-7-310. Additional funding was provided by the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, Western Washington University. We thank three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

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  1. Jason S. Kapchinske

    Present address: The Jay Group Inc, Marysville, WA, 98270, USA

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  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, Huxley College of the Environment, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, 98225-9181, USA

    Peter S. Homann, Jason S. Kapchinske & Andrew Boyce

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  1. Peter S. Homann
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Correspondence to Peter S. Homann.

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Homann, P.S., Kapchinske, J.S. & Boyce, A. Relations of mineral-soil C and N to climate and texture: regional differences within the conterminous USA. Biogeochemistry 85, 303–316 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-007-9139-6

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