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Organic carbon mineralization responses to temperature increases in subtropical paddy soils

  • SOILS, SEC 1 • SOIL ORGANIC MATTER DYNAMICS AND NUTRIENT CYCLING • RESEARCH ARTICLE
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Understanding organic carbon mineralization and its temperature response in subtropical paddy soils is important for the regional carbon balance. There is a growing interest in factors controlling soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralization because of the potential for climate change. This study aims to test the hypothesis that soil clay content impedes SOC mineralization in subtropical paddy soils.

Materials and methods

A 160-day laboratory incubation at temperatures from 10 to 30 °C and 90% water content was conducted to examine the dynamics of SOC mineralization and its temperature response in three subtropical paddy soils with different clay contents (sandy loam, clay loam, and silty clay soils). A three-pool SOC model (active, slow, and resistant) was used to fit SOC mineralization.

Results and discussion

Total CO2 evolved during incubation following the order of clay loam > silty clay > sandy loam. The temperature response coefficients (Q 10) were 1.92 ± 0.39, 2.36 ± 0.22, and 2.10 ± 0.70, respectively, for the sandy loam soil, clay loam soil, and silty clay soil. But the soil clay content followed the order of silty clay > clay loam > sandy loam. The sandy loam soil neither released larger amounts of CO2 nor showed higher temperature sensitivity, as expected, even though it contains lower soil clay content among the three soils. It seems that soil clay content did not have a dominant effect which results in the difference in SOC mineralization and its temperature response in the selected three paddy soils. However, dissolved organic carbon (DOC; representing substrate availability) had a great effect. The size of the active C pool ranged from 0.11 to 3.55% of initial SOC, and it increased with increasing temperature. The silty clay soil had the smallest active C pool (1.40%) and the largest Q 10 value (6.33) in the active C pool as compared with the other two soils. The mineralizable SOC protected in the silty clay soil, therefore, had even greater temperature sensitivity than the other two soils that had less SOC stabilization.

Conclusions

Our study suggests that SOC mineralization and its temperature response in subtropical paddy soils were probably not dominantly controlled by soil clay content, but the substrate availability (represented as DOC) and the specific stabilization mechanisms of SOC may have great effects.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by “The Strategic Priority Research Program—Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Related Issues” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDA05050505), the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 41090283 and 41001141), and the International S&T Cooperation Program of China (grant no. 2011DFA30770).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, 410125, China

    Ping Zhou, Yong Li, Xiu’e Ren, He’ai Xiao, Chengli Tong, Tida Ge, Philip C. Brookes, Jianlin Shen & Jinshui Wu

  2. Changsha Research Station for Agricultural and Environmental Monitoring, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, 410125, China

    Yong Li, Jianlin Shen & Jinshui Wu

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  1. Ping Zhou
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Correspondence to Jinshui Wu.

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Zhou, P., Li, Y., Ren, X. et al. Organic carbon mineralization responses to temperature increases in subtropical paddy soils. J Soils Sediments 14, 1–9 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-013-0781-4

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