Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Interactions between leaf litter quality, particle size, and microbial community during the earliest stage of decay

  • Published:
Biogeochemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

With global change expected to alter aspects of the carbon (C) cycle, empirical data describing how microorganisms function in different environmental conditions are needed to increase predictive capabilities of microbially-driven decomposition models. Given the importance of accelerated C fluxes during early decay in C cycling, we characterized how varying litter qualities (maple vs. oak) and sizes (ground vs. 0.25 cm2 vs. 1 cm2), and contrasting soils (sandy vs. loamy), altered microbial biomass-carbon and community structure, respiration, enzyme activities, and inorganic nutrients over the initial 2 weeks of decomposition. Our hypotheses were (1) mixing ground maple with loam should result in a quicker, more prolonged respiration response than other treatments; and (2) “priming”, or substrate-stimulated soil organic matter turnover, should be minimal over the first few days due to soluble C substrate uptake. Respiration peaks, biomass increases, nutrient immobilization, low enzyme activities, and minimal priming occurred in all treatments over the first 72 h. These general features suggest soluble C compounds are degraded before polymeric substrates regardless of litter size or type, or soil. Ground litter addition to the high C and microbial biomass loam resulted in a more prolonged respiration peak than the poorly aggregated sand. Priming was greater in loam than the C limited sandy soil after the first 72 h, likely due to co-metabolism of labile and recalcitrant substrates. We conclude that the general features of early decay are widespread and predictable, yet differences in litter and soil characteristics influence the temporal pattern and magnitude of C flux.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aber JD, Melillo JM, McClaugherty CA (1990) Predicting long-term patterns of mass loss, nitrogen dynamics, and soil organic matter formation from initial fine litter chemistry in temperate forest ecosystems. Can J Bot 68:2201–2208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahn M, Zimmerman AR, Comerford MB, Sickman JO, Grunwald S (2009) Carbon mineralization and labile organic carbon pools in the sandy soils of a North Florida watershed. Ecosystems 12:672–685

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allison SD, Martiny BH (2008) Resistance, resilience, and redundancy in microbial communities. PNAS 115:11512–11519

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez E, Marcos M, Torrado V, Sanjurjo M (2008) Dynamics of macronutrients during the first stages of litter decomposition from forest species in a temperate area. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 80:243–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson TH, Domsch KH (1989) Ratios of microbial biomass carbon to total organic-carbon in arable soils. Soil Biol Biochem 21:471–479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson JM, Ineson P, Huish SA (1983) Nitrogen and cation mobilization by soil fauna feeding on leaf litter and soil organic matter from deciduous woodlands. Soil Biol Biochem 15:463–467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berg B (2000) Litter decomposition and organic matter turnover in northern forest soils. For Ecol Manag 133:13–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berg B, McClaugherty C (2008) Plant litter: decomposition, humus formation, carbon sequestration. Springer, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bernhard-Reversat F, Main G, Hall K, Loumeto J, Ngao J (2003) Fast disappearance of the water-soluble phenolic fraction in eucalypt leaf litter during laboratory and field experiments. Appl Soil Ecol 23:273–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blagodatskaya EV, Kuzyakov Y (2008) Mechanisms of real and apparent priming effects and their dependence on soil microbial biomass and community structure: critical review. Biol Fertil Soils 45:115–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blagodatskaya EV, Blagodatsky SA, Anderson TH, Kuzyakov Y (2007) Priming effects in Chernozem induced by glucose and N in relation to microbial growth strategies. Appl Soil Ecol 37:95–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouvy M, Bettarel Y, Bouvier C, Domaizon I, Jacquet S, LeFloc’h E, Montanie H, Mostajir B, Sime-Ngando T, Torreton P, Vidussi F, Bouvier T (2011) Trophic interactions between viruses, bacteria and non flagellates under various nutrient conditions and simulated climate change. Environ Microbiol 13:1842–1857

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradford MA, Tordoff GM, Eggers T, Jones TH, Newington JE (2002) Microbiota, fauna, and mesh size interactions in litter decomposition. Oikos 99:317–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canizares R, Benitez E, Ogunseitan OA (2011) Molecular analysis of β-glucosidase diversity and function in soil. Eur J Soil Biol 47:1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carreiro MM, Sinsabaugh RL, Repert DA, Parkhurst PF (2000) Microbial enzyme shifts explain litter decay responses to simulated nitrogen deposition. Ecology 81:2359–2365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Angelo E, Crutchfield J, Vandiviere M (2001) Rapid, sensitive, microscale determination of phosphate in water and soil. J Environ Qual 30:2206–2209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeForest JL, Scott LG (2010) Available organic soil phosphorus has an important influence on microbial community composition. Soil Sci Soc Am J 74:2059–2066

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeForest JL, Zak DR, Pregitzer KS, Burton AJ (2004) Atmospheric nitrate deposition and the microbial degradation of cellobiose and vanillin in a northern hardwood forest. Soil Biol Biochem 36:965–971

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeForest JL, Smemo KA, Burke DJ, Elliott HL, Becker JC (2012) Soil microbial responses to elevated phosphorus and pH in acidic temperate deciduous forests. Biogeochemistry 109:189–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doane TA, Horwath WR (2003) Spectrophotometric determination of nitrate with a single reagent. Anal Lett 36:2713–2722

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dungait JAJ, Hopkins DW, Gregory AS, Whitmore AP (2012) Soil organic matter turnover is governed by accessibility not recalcitrance. Glob Change Biol 18:1781–1796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekschmitt K, Liu MK, Vetter S, Fox O, Wolters V (2005) Strategies used by soil biota to overcome soil organic matter stability-why is dead organic matter left over in the soil? Geoderma 128:167–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fierer N, Schimel JP, Holden PA (2003) Variations in microbial community composition through two soil depth profiles. Soil Biol Biochem 35:167–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fierer N, Bradford MA, Jackson RB (2007) Toward an ecological classification of soil bacteria. Ecology 88:1354–1364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fontaine S, Mariotti A, Abbadie L (2003) The priming effect of organic matter: a question of microbial competition? Soil Biol Biochem 35:837–845

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frey SD, Drijber R, Smith H, Mellilo J (2008) Microbial biomass, functional capacity, and community structure after 12 years of soil warming. Soil Biol Biochem 40:2904–2907

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frouz J, Elhottova D, Pizl V, Tajovsky J, Sourkova M, Picek T, Maly S (2007) The effect of litter quality and soil fauna composition on organic matter dynamics in post mining soil: a laboratory study. Appl Soil Ecol 37:72–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gholz HL, Wedin DA, Smitherman SM, Harmon ME, Parton WJ (2000) Long-term dynamics of pine and hardwood litter in contrasting environments: toward a global model of decomposition. Glob Change Biol 6:751–765

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glanville H, Rousk J, Golyshin P, Jones DL (2012) Mineralization of low molecular weight carbon substrates in soil solution under laboratory and field conditions. Soil Biol Biochem 48:88–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grandy AS, Neff JC (2008) Molecular C dynamics downstream: the biochemical decomposition sequence and its impact on soil organic matter structure and function. Sci Total Environ 404:297–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gu L, Post W, King A (2004) Fast labile C turnover obscures sensitivity of heterotrophic respiration from soil to temperature: a model analysis. Global Biogeochem Cycl 18:1022

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guenet B, Juarez S, Bardoux G, Abbadie L, Chenu C (2012) Evidence that stable C is as vulnerable to priming effect as is more labile C in soil. Soil Biol Biochem 52:43–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanlon RDG, Anderson JM (1980) Influence of macroarthropod feeding activities on macroflora in decomposing oak leaves. Soil Biol Biochem 12:255–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hibbard KA, Law BE, Reichstein M, Sulzman J (2005) An analysis of soil respiration across northern hemisphere temperate ecosystems. Biogeochemistry 73:29–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacob M, Viedenz K, Polle A, Thomas F (2010) Leaf litter decomposition in temperate deciduous forest stands with a decreasing fraction of beech (Fagus sylvatica). Oecologia 164(4):1083–1094

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuzyakov Y (2002) Review: factors affecting rhizosphere priming effects. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 165:382–396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuzyakov Y (2005) Theoretical background for partitioning of root and rhizomicrobial respiration by δ 13C of microbial biomass. Eur J Soil Biol 41:1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuzyakov Y (2010) Priming effects: interactions between living and dead organic matter. Soil Biol Biochem 42:1363–1371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuzyakov Y, Bol R (2006) Sources and mechanisms of priming effect induced in two grassland soil amended with slurry and sugar. Soil Biol Biochem 38:747–758

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuzyakov Y, Friedel JK, Stahr K (2000) Review of mechanisms and quantification of priming effects. Soil Biol Biochem 32:1485–1498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambers H, Mougel C, Jaillard B, Hinsinger P (2009) Plant–microbe–soil interactions in the rhizosphere: an evolutionary perspective. Plant Soil 321:83–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovett GM, Weather KC, Arthur MA, Schultz JC (2004) Nitrogen cycling in a northern hardwood forest: do species matter? Biogeochemistry 67:289–308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClaugherty CA, Pastor J, Aber JD, Melillo JM (1985) Forest litter decomposition in relation to soil nitrogen dynamics and litter quality. Ecology 66:266–275

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meier CL, Bowman WD (2008) Phenolic-rich leaf carbon fractions differentially influence microbial respiration and plant growth. Oecologia 158:95–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moni C, Rumpel C, Virto I, Chabbi A, Chenu C (2010) Relative importance of sorption versus aggregation for organic matter storage in subsoil horizons of two contrasting soils. Eur J Soil Sci 61:958–969

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moorhead DL, Reynolds JF (1993) Changing carbon chemistry of buried creosote bush litter during decomposition in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert. Am Midl Nat 130:83–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moorhead DL, Sinsabaugh RL (2006) A theoretical model of litter decay and microbial interaction. Ecol Monogr 76:151–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moorhead DL, Lashermes G, Sinsabaugh RL (2012) A theoretical model of C- and N-acquiring exoenzyme activities, which balances microbial demands during decomposition. Soil Biol Biochem 53:133–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mula-Michel HP, Williams MA (2012) Soil type modestly impacts bacterial community succession associated with decomposing grass detrituspheres. Soil Sci Soc Am J 77:133–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen UN, Ayres E, Wall DH, Bardgett RD (2011) Soil biodiversity and carbon cycling: a review and synthesis of studies examining diversity–function relationships. Eur J Soil Sci 62:105–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olander LP, Vitousek PM (2000) Regulation of soil phosphatase and chitinase activity by N and P availability. Biogeochemistry 49:175–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plante AF, Conant RT, Stewart CE, Paustian K, Six J (2006) Impact of soil texture on the distribution of soil organic matter in physical and chemical fractions. Soil Sci Soc Am J 79:287–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potthoff M, Steenwerth KL, Jackson LE, Drenovsky RE, Scow KM, Joergensen RG (2006) Soil microbial community composition as affected by restoration practices in California grassland. Soil Biol Biochem 38:1851–1860

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reber H, Schara A (1971) Degradation sequences in wheat straw extracts inoculated with soil suspensions. Soil Biol Biochem 3:381–383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhine ED, Sims GK, Mulvaney RL, Pratt EJ (1998) Improving the Berthelot reaction for determining ammonium in soil extracts and water. Soil Sci Soc Am J 62:473–480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rinkes ZL, Weintraub MN, DeForest JL, Moorhead DL (2011) Microbial substrate preference and community dynamics during the decomposition of Acer saccharum. Fungal Ecol 4(6):396–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romani AM, Fischer H, Mille-Lindblom C, Tranvik LJ (2006) Interactions of bacteria and fungi on decomposing litter: differential enzyme activities. Ecology 87:2559–2569

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saiya-Cork KR, Sinsabaugh RL, Zak DR (2002) The effects of long term nitrogen deposition on extracellular enzyme activity in an Acer saccharum forest soil. Soil Biol Biochem 34:1309–1315

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sayer EJ, Powers JS, Tanner EVJ (2007) Increased litter fall in tropical forests boosts the transfer of soil CO2 to the atmosphere. PLoS One 2(12):e1299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimel JP, Weintraub MN (2003) The implications of exoenzyme activity on microbial carbon and nitrogen limitation in soil: a theoretical model. Soil Biol Biochem 35:549–563

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger WH, Andrews JA (2000) Soil respiration and the global carbon cycle. Biogeochemistry 48:7–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott-Denton LE, Rosensteil TN, Monson RK (2006) Differential controls by climate and substrate over the heterotrophic and rhizospheric components of soil respiration. Glob Change Biol 12:205–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sexstone AJ, Revsbech NP, Parkin TB, Tiedje JM (1985) Direct measurement of oxygen profiles and denitrification rates in soil aggregates. Soil Sci Soc Am J 49:645–651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sinsabaugh RL, Van Horn DJ, Follstad Shah JJ, Findlay S (2010) Ecoenzymatic stoichiometry in relation to productivity for freshwater biofilm and plankton communities. Microb Ecol 60:885–893

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Six J, Conant RT, Paul EA, Paustian K (2002) Stabilization mechanisms of soil organic matter: implications for C-saturation of soils. Plant Soil 241:155–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snajdr J, Cajthaml T, Valaskova V, Merhautova P, Petrankova M, Spetz P, Leppanen K, Baldrian P (2011) Transformation of Quercus petraea litter: successive changes in litter chemistry are reflected in differential enzyme activity and changes in the microbial community composition. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 75:291–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snyder JD, Trofymow JA (1984) A rapid accurate wet oxidation diffusion procedure for determining organic and inorganic carbon in plants and soil. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 15:587–597

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steenwerth KL, Jackson LE, Carlisle EA, Scow KM (2006) Microbial communities of a native perennial bunchgrass do not respond consistently across a gradient of land-use intensification. Soil Biol Biochem 38:1797–1811

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Talbot JM, Treseder KK (2012) Interactions among lignin, cellulose, and nitrogen drive litter chemistry-decay relationships. Ecology 93(2):345–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treseder KK (2008) Nitrogen additions and microbial biomass: a meta-analysis of ecosystem studies. Ecol Lett 11:1111–1120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treseder KK, Balser TC, Bradford MA, Brodie EL, Dubinsky EA, Eviner VT, Hofmockel KS, Lennon JT, Levine UY, MacGregor BJ, Pett-Ridge J, Waldrop MP (2011) Integrating microbial ecology into ecosystem models: challenges and priorities. Biogeochemistry 109:7–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Hees PAW, Jones DL, Finlay R, Godbold DL, Lundstrom US (2005) The carbon we do not see-the impact of low molecular weight compounds on carbon dynamics and respiration in forest soils: a review. Soil Biol Biochem 37:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waldrop MP, Firestone MK (2004) Microbial community utilization of recalcitrant and simple carbon compounds: impact of oak-woodland plant communities. Oecologia 138:275–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallenstein MD, Weintraub MN (2008) Emerging tools for measuring and modeling the in situ activity of extracellular enzymes. Soil Biol Biochem 40:2098–2106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White DC, Davis WM, Nickels JS, King JD, Bobbie RJ (1979) Determination of the sedimentary microbial biomass by extractable lipid phosphate. Oecologia 40:51–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wickings K, Grandy AS (2011) The oribatid mite Scheloribates moestus (Acari: Oribitada) alters litter chemistry and nutrient cycling during decomposition. Soil Biol Biochem 43:351–358

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wickings K, Grandy AS, Reed S, Cleveland C (2011) Management intensity alters decomposition via biological pathways. Biogeochemistry 104:365–379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wickings K, Grandy AS, Reed S, Cleveland C (2012) The origin of litter chemical complexity during decomposition. Ecol Lett 15:1180–1188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolters V (2000) Invertebrate control of soil organic stability. Bio Fertil Soils 31:1–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xin WD, Yin XQ, Song B (2012) Contribution of soil fauna to litter decomposition in Songnen sandy lands in northeastern China. J Arid Environ 77:90–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang X, Yang Z, Warren MW, Chen J (2012) Mechanical fragmentation enhances the contribution of Collembola to leaf litter decomposition. Eur J Soil Biol 53:23–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zelles L (1999) Fatty acid patterns of phospholipids and lipopolysaccharides in the characterization of microbial communities in soil: a review. Biol Fertil Soils 29:111–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the NSF Ecosystems Program (Grant # 0918718). For field and laboratory assistance, we thank Mallory Ladd, Ryan Monnin, Steve Solomon, Heather Thoman, Logan Thornsberry, and Megan Wenzel. We are also grateful to Jason Witter for assistance in freeze-drying samples for PLFA analysis. For help with CN analysis, we thank Doug Sturtz, Russ Friederich, and Jonathan Frantz from the USDA ARS at the University of Toledo. We also thank two anonymous reviewers whose suggestions greatly improved this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, 43606, USA

    Zachary L. Rinkes, Daryl L. Moorhead & Michael N. Weintraub

  2. Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Jared L. DeForest

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

    A. Stuart Grandy

Authors
  1. Zachary L. Rinkes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jared L. DeForest
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A. Stuart Grandy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Daryl L. Moorhead
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Michael N. Weintraub
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael N. Weintraub.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Colin Bell

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary Fig. 1

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations over time during the two-week incubation for A sugar maple and B oak treatments. Values are expressed as μg-C g dry soil−1. Error bars show the standard error of the mean (n = 4). Tukey’s posthoc test was used to determine significant differences between treatments. Lowercase letters were used to designate significant differences between treatments. (TIFF 231 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rinkes, Z.L., DeForest, J.L., Grandy, A.S. et al. Interactions between leaf litter quality, particle size, and microbial community during the earliest stage of decay. Biogeochemistry 117, 153–168 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-013-9872-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-013-9872-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation