Abstract
Purpose
We evaluated the importance of dry season (summer) sunlight on carbon (C) turnover in a Mediterranean-type climate ecosystem in the context of spatially heterogenous distribution of vegetation.
Methods
We manipulated summer sunlight exposure of litter and soil at the ecosystem scale in a natural Patagonian woodland over two years and evaluated its effect on C turnover in litter and surface soil. We measured decomposition of standing dead litter of dominant grass and shrub species, changes in labile C pools in soil microsites with and without plant litter, and potential enzyme activity of litter and both soil microsites, evaluating seasonal and legacy effects of summer sunlight exposure.
Results
Summer sunlight exposure significantly increased standing litter decomposition for both shrub and grass litter (p < 0.05). Additionally, summer sunlight significantly increased labile carbohydrate availability (saccharification) and potential microbial enzymatic activity of grass (but not shrub) litter. Interestingly, summer sunlight exposure also had effects on soil, reducing by 50% labile organic C while stimulating potential extracellular enzyme activity in both soil microsites, with and without plant litter.
Conclusion
Summer sunlight accelerates C loss from standing litter and soil consistently across patches of heterogeneously distributed vegetation. In addition, sunlight exposure demonstrated carryover effects on the acceleration of grass litter decay in the following rainy season, when sunlight increased decomposition five times more than in the dry season. These results suggest that summer sunlight is an important and lasting control of C turnover at the ecosystem scale even in seasonally and spatially heterogenous ecosystems.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank L.I. Perez, A. González-Arzac, M.S. Méndez, M. Guerra Lara and J. Gomez for field and laboratory assistance in Patagonia and Buenos Aires. Financial support came from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT 2015-1231, PICT 2016-1780, PICT 2019-02645), UBACyT 2018, 2020 of Argentina, the New Phytologist Trust and the L’Oréal-UNESCO Program for Women in Science. We sincerely thank H. Brockerof of the Estancia San Jorge for permission to establish study sites on their property. C.L. Ballaré and R.A. Golluscio provided helpful discussions and comments regarding the project.
Funding
This work was supported by Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT 2015–1231, PICT 2016–1780, PICT 2019–02645), UBACyT 2018, 2020 of Argentina, the New Phytologist Trust and the L’Oréal-UNESCO Program for Women in Science. P.B. was supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) of Argentina.
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P.B. and A.T.A. conceived the study. All authors performed field experiments. P.B. performed laboratory analyses and analyzed data. All authors interpreted results. P.B. led the writing of the manuscript. All authors commented on and edited versions of the manuscript.
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Berenstecher, P., Vivanco, L. & Austin, A.T. Summer sunlight impacts carbon turnover in a spatially heterogeneous Patagonian woodland. Plant Soil 480, 523–540 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05599-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05599-8