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Differential effects of redox conditions on the decomposition of litter and soil organic matter

  • Biogeochemistry Letters
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Abstract

Soil redox conditions exert substantial influence on biogeochemical processes in terrestrial ecosystems. Humid tropical forest soils are often characterized by fluctuating redox, yet how these dynamics affect patterns of organic matter decomposition and associated CO2 fluxes remains poorly understood. We used a 13C-label incubation experiment in a humid tropical forest soil to follow the decomposition of plant litter and soil organic matter (SOM) in response to four redox regimes—static oxic or anoxic, and two oscillating treatments. We used high-resolution mass spectrometry to characterize the relative composition of organic compound classes in the water extractable OM. CO2 production from litter and SOM showed different responses to redox treatments. While cumulative production of SOM-derived CO2 was positively correlated with the length of oxic exposure (r = 0.89, n = 20), cumulative 13C-litter-derived CO2 production was not linked to oxygen availability. Litter-derived CO2 production was highest under static anoxic conditions in the first half of the experiment, and later dropped to the lowest rate amongst the treatments. In anoxic soils, we observed depletion of more oxidized water-extractable OM (especially amino sugar-, carbohydrate-, and protein-like compounds) over the second half of the experiment, which likely served as substrates for anaerobic CO2 production. Results from two-pool kinetic modeling showed that more frequent anoxic exposure limited decomposition of a slow-cycling C pool, but not a fast-cycling pool. These results suggest that aerobic and anaerobic heterotrophs were equally effective at degrading labile substrates released from fresh plant litter in this humid tropical forest soil, while aerobic decomposers were more effective in breaking down the potentially refractory compounds found in SOM.

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Data availability

Data from this study have been made available via the Luquillo CZO and Hydroshare (http://www.hydroshare.org/resource/450692765ab444e390f40d896f1b1522).

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Acknowledgements

We thank Daniel Nilson, Elizabeth Green, Jessica Wollard, Shalini Mabery, Rachel Neurath, Keith Morrison, Christopher Ward, Jeffery Kimbrel, Steve Blazewicz, Erin Nuccio, Mona Hwang, Feliza Bourguet, Summer Ahmed, Heather Dang, Kana Yamamoto, and Sally Hall for assistance in the laboratory and the field. We thank Nikola Tolic, Rosey Chu, and Jason Toyoda for their help with FTICR-MS analysis. Avner Gross, Ljiljana Pasa-Tolic, and Allegra Mayer provided advice and/or helpful conversations. This project was supported by a US Department of Energy Early Career Research Program Award to J. Pett-Ridge (SCW1478) administered by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER), Genomic Sciences Program, and EMSL awards 48643, 48477, 48650, and 48832 to J. Pett-Ridge. Work at LLNL was performed under the auspices of the US Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. Additional support for manuscript preparation was provided by OBER award SCW1632. Work at UC Berkeley was supported by DEB-1457805 (WLS), Luquillo CZO (EAR-1331841), and LTER (DEB-0620910). WLS was also supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, McIntire Stennis project CA-B-ECO-7673-MS. A portion of the research was performed using EMSL (grid.436923.9), a DOE Office of Science User Facility sponsored by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil and Water Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Yang Lin

  2. Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Yang Lin & Whendee L. Silver

  3. Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, 94550, USA

    Ashley N. Campbell, Amrita Bhattacharyya & Jennifer Pett-Ridge

  4. Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Amrita Bhattacharyya & Peter S. Nico

  5. Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, 99352, USA

    Nicole DiDonato, Allison M. Thompson & Malak M. Tfaily

  6. Department of Environmental Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85719, USA

    Malak M. Tfaily

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  1. Yang Lin
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Contributions

ANC and JPR designed the incubation experiment; YL performed the gas analysis with help from ANC, JPR and AB; YL conducted modeling analysis; MMT performed the FTICR-MS analysis; YL analyzed the FTICR-MS data with help from ND, AMT, and MMT; JPR, WLS and PSN provided intellectual expertise; YL led the manuscript development with contribution from all other coauthors; JPR and WLS provided funding for experimental set-up and salary support.

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Correspondence to Yang Lin, Whendee L. Silver or Jennifer Pett-Ridge.

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Lin, Y., Campbell, A.N., Bhattacharyya, A. et al. Differential effects of redox conditions on the decomposition of litter and soil organic matter. Biogeochemistry 154, 1–15 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-021-00790-y

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