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Short-term effects of soil moisture on soil organic carbon decomposition in a coastal wetland of the Yellow River Delta

  • WETLAND ECOSYSTEMS
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Abstract

Soil moisture remarkably influences soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition and is one of the key variables in ecological models influencing changes in soil carbon (C) storage. However, the mechanisms determining the impact of soil moisture on SOC decomposition in coastal wetlands are poorly understood. We collected and incubated soil samples from a coastal wetland of the Yellow River Delta, China, to investigate the response of SOC decomposition (the sum of CO2–C and CH4–C) to soil moisture. Soil samples were incubated at 20%, 60%, 100%, 140% and 180% water holding capacity (WHC), respectively. Compared to drought condition (20% WHC), moist (60% and 100% WHC) and flooding (140% and 180% WHC) conditions were observed with significantly higher SOC decomposition, explained by increased soil microbial biomass and altered soil physical parameters (pH and electronic conductivity (EC)). Excluding the effect of drought, we found decreased SOC decomposition with increased microbial biomass in flooding conditions compared to moist conditions. Structural equation modeling analysis showed that SOC decomposition and soil C storage were associated with changes in soil environment and soil microbial biomass resulted from soil moisture variation. This study highlights the importance of soil moisture in soil carbon dynamics, which is enlightening for the evaluation of soil C cycling with a decline of soil moisture under a warmer climate in coastal wetlands.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA23050202), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41671089) and Forestry Science and Technology Innovation Project of Shandong Province (Grant No. 2019LY006). We are grateful for the support from Yellow River Delta Ecological Research Station of Coastal Wetland, CAS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (YIC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shandong Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes, YICCAS, Yantai, 264003, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Wendi Qu, Guangxuan Han, Juanyong Li, Mingliang Zhao, Wenjun He, Xinge Li & Siyu Wei

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Wendi Qu, Juanyong Li & Wenjun He

  3. Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China

    Wendi Qu, Guangxuan Han, Juanyong Li & Wenjun He

  4. Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Jian Wang

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  1. Wendi Qu
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Qu, W., Han, G., Wang, J. et al. Short-term effects of soil moisture on soil organic carbon decomposition in a coastal wetland of the Yellow River Delta. Hydrobiologia 848, 3259–3271 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-020-04422-8

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