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Recalcitrance of lichen and moss litters increases soil carbon storage on permafrost

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Abstract

Aims

Climate warming is predicted to increase permafrost degradation and soil carbon (C) loss, while changes in microrelief and vegetation cover can also influence soil C storage at local scale. Black spruce forests develop lichen/moss-covered organic mounds on permafrost. Recalcitrance of lichen and moss litters, as well as cold climate, is hypothesized to increase C storage in hummocky soils.

Methods

We compared the decomposition rates of lichen and moss litters, spruce root litter, and cellulose at hummocky clayey soils, non-hummocky clayey soils, and non-hummocky sandy soils in northwest Canadian subarctic.

Results

Lichen/moss-covered hummocky clayey soils displayed greater C stocks than non-hummocky clayey and sandy soils. Lichen and moss litters decomposed more slowly than did spruce root litter and cellulose. Recalcitrant litter inputs of lichen and moss contributed to greater C stocks of hummocky clayey soils, compared to non-hummocky clayey and sandy soils. Lower temperature dependency of lichen and moss litter decomposition, compared to vascular plant litter, suggests stronger resistance of lichen and moss litters to decomposition.

Conclusion

Permafrost degradation by climate warming would reduce hummocky microrelief covered by lichen and moss, major contributors to soil C, and decrease the high potential for C storage of black spruce forests on permafrost.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the government of the Northwest Territories for licensing our research (No. 16174). This work was financially supported by the Green Network of Excellence (GRENE) Arctic Climate Change Project and a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) grant (No. 17K15292). We are grateful to Dr. Darwin Anderson, professor emeritus of the University of Saskatchewan, for providing valuable advice and to Dr. Yojiro Matsuura and the late Akira Osawa for assistance with the field survey.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8687, Japan

    Kazumichi Fujii

  2. Faculty of Agriculture, Utsunomiya University, Utsunomiya, 321-8505, Japan

    Chie Hayakawa

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  1. Kazumichi Fujii
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  2. Chie Hayakawa
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Contributions

K.F. and C.H. designed the study. K.F. and C.H. established the field experiment and discussed the results. K.F. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kazumichi Fujii.

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Fujii, K., Hayakawa, C. Recalcitrance of lichen and moss litters increases soil carbon storage on permafrost. Plant Soil 472, 595–608 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05273-5

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