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Vertical variations in plant- and microbial-derived carbon components in grassland soils

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Abstract

Aims

Owing to different soil environments and organic carbon sources, soil organic carbon (SOC) composition and preservation mechanisms may vary substantially in deep versus surface soils. This study examines vertical variation of various SOC components (including lignin phenols, cutin, suberin and microbial lipids) across the Chinese-Mongolian grasslands.

Methods

Lignin phenols and hydrolysable lipids were isolated by cupric oxide oxidation and alkaline hydrolysis, respectively. A comprehensive list of environmental variables was compiled to disentangle influencing factors for the variation of various components at four different depths.

Results

Lignin phenols, suberin and microbial lipids were most abundant in the surface soil (0–10 cm). Ratios of cutin to suberin and microbial lipids to lignin phenols (in the alpine grasslands) were higher in the bottom-most soil. Calcium (Ca) rather than iron (Fe) plays an important role in the preservation of cutin and microbial lipids in the bottom soil with a high Ca:Fe ratio and high pH. The incorporation efficiency of suberin was higher in deeper than surface soils and showed an increasing trend with depth in the alpine (but not temperate) grasslands.

Conclusions

Compared to surface soils, the incorporation of root-derived carbon into SOC is more efficient in deeper soils due to stronger mineral protection and weaker microbial decomposition. Root-derived carbon is more important for SOC accrual in the alpine than temperate grasslands, especially at depth. These findings reveal differential distribution patterns and preservation mechanisms for SOC components in the surface versus deep soils, providing new information to understand SOC stability at different depths.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA19050403), the Chinese National Key Development Program for Basic Research (2015CB954201), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41773067, 31971502) and the CAS Interdisciplinary Innovation Team (JCTD-2018-06). The original data are available from the supplementary information. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China

    Tian Ma, Guohua Dai, Shanshan Zhu, Dima Chen, Yongfei Bai, Xingguo Han & Xiaojuan Feng

  2. College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Tian Ma, Shanshan Zhu, Yangjian Zhang, Yongfei Bai, Xingguo Han & Xiaojuan Feng

  3. State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730020, China

    Tian Ma & Jin-Sheng He

  4. Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, 810008, China

    Litong Chen

  5. Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China

    Xiaotao Lü & Xiaobo Wang

  6. Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Juntao Zhu & Yangjian Zhang

  7. Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Jin-Sheng He

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  1. Tian Ma
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  2. Guohua Dai
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  3. Shanshan Zhu
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  7. Xiaobo Wang
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Correspondence to Xiaojuan Feng.

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Ma, T., Dai, G., Zhu, S. et al. Vertical variations in plant- and microbial-derived carbon components in grassland soils. Plant Soil 446, 441–455 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-019-04371-9

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