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Soil Organic Carbon Content Decreases in Both Surface and Subsoil Mineral Horizons by Simulated Future Increases in Labile Carbon Inputs in a Temperate Coniferous Forest

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Abstract

Soils represent important pools of soil organic carbon (SOC) that can be greatly influenced by labile C inputs, which are expected to increase in future due to CO2 enrichment of atmosphere and a concomitant rise in plant primary productivity. Studying effects of variable labile C inputs on SOC pool helps to understand how soils respond to global change. However, this knowledge is missing for coniferous forest soils despite being widespread throughout the northern temperate zone. We conducted a 7-month field manipulation experiment to study the effects of variable labile C inputs (simulated by additions of C4 sucrose) on the C content in soil fractions and on microbial abundance in the organic (O), surface mineral (A), and subsoil mineral (B) horizons of a temperate coniferous forest soil. SOC in less-protected soil fractions and total organic C were substantially decreased by labile C additions that simulated future increases in C inputs. The SOC losses were comparable between the A and B horizon (40% vs. 30%). However, because sucrose availability estimated from its incorporation into soil fractions and microbial biomass sharply decreased with soil depth, the loss of C was higher in the B than in the A horizon when related to the amount of sucrose added. Utilization of sucrose was highest by fungi in the O horizon and by bacteria in the mineral soil horizons. The results indicate that future increases in labile C inputs to coniferous forest soils will cause rapid and substantial losses of SOC in both the surface and subsoil mineral horizons.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Czech Science Foundation [Grant Number 17-08717S] and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic - MEYS [Grant Numbers LM2015075, EF16_013/0001782]. Some of the equipment used for this study was purchased from the Operational Programme Prague - Competitiveness [Grant Number CZ.2.16/3.1.00/21516]. Institutional funding for K. J. was provided by the Center for Geosphere Dynamics [Grant Number UNCE/SCI/006]. The authors thank Jiřina Jurdáková, Jiří Petrásek, Pavlína Stuchlá, Anna Vacířová, Ota Rauch, and Josef Starý for help with field sampling and laboratory analyses, and Bruce Jaffee (http://jaffeerevises.com/) for English revision of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Soil Biology and SoWa RI, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Sádkách 7, 37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Veronika Jílková

  2. Institute for Environmental Studies and SoWa RI, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Benátská 2, 12801, Prague, Czech Republic

    Kateřina Jandová, Jaroslav Kukla & Tomáš Cajthaml

  3. Institute of Microbiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Prague, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Cajthaml

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  1. Veronika Jílková
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  2. Kateřina Jandová
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  3. Jaroslav Kukla
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  4. Tomáš Cajthaml
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Correspondence to Kateřina Jandová.

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VJ designed study, performed research, analysed data, and wrote the paper; KJ designed study, performed research, and wrote the paper; JK and TC performed research.

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Jílková, V., Jandová, K., Kukla, J. et al. Soil Organic Carbon Content Decreases in Both Surface and Subsoil Mineral Horizons by Simulated Future Increases in Labile Carbon Inputs in a Temperate Coniferous Forest. Ecosystems 24, 2028–2041 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-021-00632-w

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