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Incorporation of fine root detritus into forest soil organic matter

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Abstract

One of the principal inputs of organic matter to forest soils is turnover of tree fine roots, but the process of decomposition of fine root litter and its conversion into stable soil organic matter (SOM) has received limited study. We labeled fine roots of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) with 13C and traced the label for 7 years into four contrasting soils to improve understanding of this process. After 7 years we recovered an average of 8.9% of the 13C label, with about two-thirds recovered as coarse particulate organic matter and one-third in microaggregates and on silt and clay particles. No differences in 13C recovery were detected between 1–2 and 3–4 order fine roots. Most of the 13C in microaggregates (53–250 µm, 58%) was occluded within macroaggregates, and the recovery in this fraction increased significantly from year 2 to 7, illustrating the role of fine root detritus in the formation of microaggregates. This process was most pronounced in the A horizon of a higher pH soil (pH = 5.5) with high iron oxide content. Conversely, the lowest 13C recovery in this fraction was observed in the A horizon of an acidic, fine-textured Inceptisol (Cambisol—World Reference Base). We estimate that annual input into relatively stable fractions of SOM represents about 14% of the total annual accumulation in these fractions; thus, our results support recent evidence that fine root litter is only a moderate contributor to stable SOM in acid temperate forest soils.

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All data generated and analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Alexis Heinz and Steve Breitenstein for able assistance with sample processing and analysis. Dr. Karsten Kalbitz and three anonymous reviewers provided valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper.

Funding

This work was support by funds from the USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture program, McIntire-Stennis grant NYC-147975.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Cornell University, 111 Fernow Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Timothy J. Fahey, Joseph B. Yavitt, Marc Goebel & Gwendolyn Pipes

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  1. Timothy J. Fahey
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Contributions

TJF conceived and designed the study with input from MG and JY. All authors contributed to material preparation, data collection, and analyses. The first draft of the manuscript was written by TF and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Joseph B. Yavitt.

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Fahey, T.J., Yavitt, J.B., Goebel, M. et al. Incorporation of fine root detritus into forest soil organic matter. Biogeochemistry 165, 151–163 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-023-01067-2

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