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The effect of bacteria and fungi on chemical weathering and chemical denudation fluxes in pine growth experiments

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Abstract

Vascular plants and associated microbial communities affect the nutrient resources of terrestrial ecosystems by impacting chemical weathering that transfers elements from primary minerals to other ecosystem pools, and chemical denudation that transports weathered elements out of the system in solution. We performed a year-long replicated flow-through column growth experiment to isolate the effects of vascular plants, ectomycorrhiza-forming fungi and associated bacteria on chemical weathering and chemical denudation. The study focused on Ca2+, K+ and Mg2+, for which the sole sources were biotite and anorthite mixed into silica sand. Concentrations of the cations were measured in input and output solutions, and three times during the year in plant biomass and on exchangeable cation sites of the growth medium. Weathering and denudation fluxes were estimated by mass balance, and mineral surface changes, biofilm and microbial attachments to surfaces were investigated with scanning electron microscopy. Both bacteria and fungi increased weathering fluxes compared to abiotic controls. Without a host plant denudation rates were as large as weathering rates i.e. the weathering to denudation ratio was about one. Based on whole year fluxes, ectomycorrhizal seedlings produced the greatest weathering to denudation ratios (1.5). Non-ectomycorrhizal seedlings also showed a high ratio of 1.3. Both ectomycorrhizal hyphal networks and root hairs of non-ectomycorrhizal trees, embedded in biofilm (microorganisms surrounded by extracellular polymers), transferred nutrients to the host while drainage losses were minimized. These results suggest that biofilms localize both weathering and plant nutrient uptake, isolating the root-hypha-mineral interface from bulk soil solution.

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Abbreviations

EMF:

Ectomycorrhiza-forming fungi

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by NSF grant EAR-03-12011 to C. K. Keller and collaborators. We also acknowledge financial and logistical support by the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Electron Microscopy Center and the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Washington State University, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory—Environmental Microbiological Science Laboratory in Richland, WA, and the USDA Forest Service Research, Long-Term Ecosystem Productivity program at Corvallis, OR. We are greatly thankful for the help, advice and discussions of M. Fauci, D. F. Bezdicek, E. Harwood, R. Bolton, M. Davis, J. Boyle, J. Young, B. W. Arey, C. Davitt and V. Lynch-Holm to make the experiments and analytical work possible. We are also thankful for the help of statistician Pat Cunningham. We thank the associate editor and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Washington State University, PO Box 642812, Pullman, WA, 99164-2812, USA

    Z. Balogh-Brunstad, C. K. Keller & R. A. Gill

  2. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, USDA, 3200 SW Jefferson way, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    B. T. Bormann & C. Y. Li

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  1. Z. Balogh-Brunstad
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Correspondence to Z. Balogh-Brunstad.

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Balogh-Brunstad, Z., Keller, C.K., Gill, R.A. et al. The effect of bacteria and fungi on chemical weathering and chemical denudation fluxes in pine growth experiments. Biogeochemistry 88, 153–167 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-008-9202-y

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