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The effects of heating, rhizosphere, and depth on root litter decomposition are mediated by soil moisture

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Abstract

The breakdown and decomposition of plant inputs are critical for nutrient cycling, soil development, and climate-ecosystem feedbacks, but uncertainties persist in how the rates and products of litter decomposition are affected by soil temperature, rhizosphere, and depth of input. We investigated the effects of soil warming (+ 4 °C), rhizosphere, and depth of litter placement on the decomposition of Avena fatua (wild oat grass) root litter in a Mediterranean grassland ecosystem. Field lysimeters were subjected to three environmental treatments (heating, control, and plant removal) and three 13C-labeled root litter addition treatments (to A horizon, to B horizon, and no-addition disturbance control) for each of two harvest time points. We buried root litter in February 2014 and measured loss of 13C in CO2 from the soil surface and in leachate as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) over two growing seasons. At the end of each growing season we recovered the 13C remaining in the soil. Loss of root litter C occurred almost entirely via heterotrophic respiration, with an estimated < 2% lost as DOC during the initial decay period. The added roots were broken down and incorporated into bulk soil material very quickly; only ~ 30% of added root was visible after 6 months. In the first growing season, decomposition occurred faster in the B than in the A horizon, the latter having greater moisture limitation. Subsequently, there was almost no further decomposition in the B horizon. After two growing seasons, less than 20% of the added root litter C remained in the A or B horizons of all environmental treatments. Heating did not stimulate decomposition, likely because it exacerbated the moisture limitation. However, while plots without plants dried down more slowly than plots with plants, their decomposition rate was not significantly greater, possibly due to the lack of rhizosphere processes such as priming. We conclude that in this Mediterranean grassland ecosystem, soil moisture, which is affected by season, depth, heating, and rhizosphere, plays a dominant role in mediating the effect of those factors on root litter decomposition, which after two seasons did not differ by depth or by treatment.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program, under Award Number DE-AC02-05CH11231, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (#31622013). This work was assisted by the cooperative efforts of the University of California, Hopland Research and Extension Center. We thank B. Curtis, P. Cook, A. Morales, R. Porras, and several undergraduate interns for their assistance in the field and laboratory. We also thank two anonymous reviewers and the handling editor for their insightful comments that greatly improved this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, Climate Sciences Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Cristina Castanha, Katerina Georgiou & Margaret S. Torn

  2. Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Biao Zhu

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA

    Caitlin E. Hicks Pries

  4. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Katerina Georgiou

  5. Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Margaret S. Torn

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  1. Cristina Castanha
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Correspondence to Biao Zhu.

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Responsible Editor: Jan Mulder.

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Castanha, C., Zhu, B., Hicks Pries, C.E. et al. The effects of heating, rhizosphere, and depth on root litter decomposition are mediated by soil moisture. Biogeochemistry 137, 267–279 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-017-0418-6

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