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Litter removal increases the plant carbon input to soil in a Pinus massoniana plantation

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Abstract

Plants are the main sources of soil organic carbon in forest ecosystems. Photosynthetic C assimilated by plants enters the soil through litter, root litter, and root exudates. However, it remains unclear how litter changes affect the plant-C input. We aimed to quantify the responses of C inputs via the litter, root litter, and root exudates to litter alteration. We conducted a 2 years litter manipulation (litter removal, litter addition, and control) experiment in a Pinus massoniana plantation and studied its impacts on plant-C inputs via litter, fine root litter, and root exudates. The results show that litter removal significantly increases the litterfall in summer and autumn and reduces root-C exudation rates in spring but has no effect on the C input by fine roots. The annual C inputs by litter, fine roots, and root exudates in the control plots were 348.28, 42.39, and 17.44 g C m−2, respectively, accounting for 85.34%, 10.39%, and 4.27% of the total C input, respectively. Litter removal increases the plant annual total C input by 24.55% due to the decrease in the root exudate-C input by 30.50% and increase in the litter-C input by 31.12%. In contrast, litter addition insignificantly affects the C input through litter, fine roots, or root exudates. Increasing the litter-C input and decreasing the root exudate-C input by litter removal are a plant strategy based on which forest growth can be maximized in the short term. The increased plant-C input due to litter removal mitigates the effects of litter alteration. This study is of great significance for understanding plant growth strategies.

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Abbreviations

CT:

Control

LA:

Litter addition

LR:

Litter removal

SOM:

Soil organic matter

MBC:

Microbial biomass carbon

MBN:

Microbial biomass nitrogen

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Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32060339) and Guizhou Forestry Scientific Research Project (J[2018]06).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of New Rural Development, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, Guizhou, China

    Chengfu Zhang, Tao Zhang, Tengbing He & Qingxia Zhao

  2. Guizhou Institute of Mountain Resources, Guizhou Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, 550001, Guizhou, China

    Chengfu Zhang

  3. College of Agriculture, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, Guizhou, China

    Yinmei Cai, Tengbing He & Xinying Li

  4. State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Jie Li

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  1. Chengfu Zhang
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Contributions

QZ and TH conceived the ideas and designed methodology. YC and XL carried out the laboratory analyses and conducted the fieldwork. TZ collected the data. CZ contributed to the analysis and interpretation of data and wrote the main manuscript text. JL helped in formal analysis, visualization, and writing—review. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.

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Correspondence to Qingxia Zhao.

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Zhang, C., Cai, Y., Zhang, T. et al. Litter removal increases the plant carbon input to soil in a Pinus massoniana plantation. Eur J Forest Res 141, 833–843 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-022-01476-2

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