ABSTRACT
Mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM), the largest soil carbon pool, is formed through a series of organo-mineral interaction mechanisms. However, different organo-mineral fractions relevant to specific stabilization mechanisms and their response to environmental variables are poorly understood, which hinders accurate prediction of MAOM preservation under climate change. We applied sequential chemical extraction to separate MAOM into different organo-mineral fractions. To assess of response of different organo-mineral fractions to climate change, alpine forest soils with high environmental sensitivity along a controlled environmental gradient were selected. Residual OM and weakly adsorbed OM were the primary organo-mineral fractions, accounting for approximately 45.1-67.7 % and 16.4-30.6 %, respectively, of the total organic carbon (TOC). Climate exerted considerable indirect effects on the preservation of organo-mineral fractions through weathering and edaphic and biotic variables. Moreover, organo-mineral fractions were closely associated with metal cations (mainly Fe3+/Al3+) and secondary minerals, forming complex networks. Water-soluble OM (WSOM), weakly adsorbed OM and Fe/Al oxyhydroxides-stabilized OM were tightly linked, occupying the central position of the networks, and were closely related to soil pH, moisture and prokaryotic composition, indicating that edaphic and biotic factors might play important roles in maintaining the network structure and topology. In addition, Fe/Al-OM complexes, oxyhydroxides-stabilized OM and residual OM in the network were greatly impacted by climate and weathering factors, including precipitation, temperature and the plagioclase index of alteration (PIA). The complex network among organo-mineral fractions sheds light on MAOM dynamic stabilization for better predicting MAOM preservation under climate change.
ABSTRACT
Mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) is the largest soil organic carbon (OC) pool with the longest turnover. MAOM is expected to have relatively little sensitivity to climate change due to mineral protection, but its persistence involves several organo-mineral fractions. The uncertainty in the response of specific organo-mineral fractions to climate change hampers the reliability of predictions of MAOM preservation in the future. Here, we applied a sequential chemical fractionation method integrated with network analysis to investigate MAOM stabilization mechanisms across five alpine ecosystems: alpine desert, alpine steppe, alpine meadow, alpine wetland, and alpine forest. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed grouping of seven extractable OM fractions in MAOM into three OM clusters: a cluster with weak bondings consisting of water-soluble OM (WSOM) and weakly adsorbed fractions (2.1-21.3% of total OC); a cluster with metal-bound complexes comprising Ca-OM complexes and Fe/Al-OM complexes (3.8-12.2% of total OC); and a cluster with strong bonding composed of Al oxyhydroxides, carbonates and Fe oxyhydroxides (12.2-33.5% of total OC). The relative percentages of OM from soils of the five ecosystems in the three clusters exhibited distinct pH dependence patterns. With the increase in pH, the cluster with weak bondings decreased, and that with strong bondings increased, while the one with metal-bound complexes showed a maximum at weakly acidic pH. Organo-mineral fractions and metal cations in MAOM constructed a complex network with pH as the central node. Results suggest that precipitation does not only alter vegetation type and microbial biomass but also regulate soil pH, which is balanced by specific metal cations, thus resulting in particular pH preference of specific OM clusters. These findings demonstrate that soil pH plays a central role in unveiling MAOM dynamics and can serve as a good predictor of soil organo-mineral fractions across alpine ecosystems.
Subject(s)
Carbon , Soil , Soil/chemistry , Carbon/analysis , Ecosystem , Reproducibility of Results , Minerals/analysis , Metals/analysis , Cations , Hydrogen-Ion ConcentrationABSTRACT
Biodegradability of dissolved organic matter (DOM) affects stabilization and mineralization of soil organic matter, which is of great significance to soil nutrient cycling. In order to explore the effects of forest regeneration on soil DOM degradation, soil DOM solution was sampled in a natural Castanopsis carlesii forest (NF), a secondary forest of C. carlesii (SF), and an artificial-assisted regeneration forest of C. carlesii (AR) in a sub-tropical area and conducted 42-day laboratory incubation. The results showed that: 1) both the degradation rate of soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and the ratio of labile DOC were as follows: SF>AR>NF; dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) are the factors significantly affecting the ratio of labile DOC; 2) stable DOC accounted for the majority of soil DOC in all the three forest types (72.3%-94.6%), which had long turnover time and contributed to the formation of stable soil organic matter (SOC); 3) the initial humification index in emission mode (HIXem) of soil DOM would affect the turnover time of labile DOC. The spectral structure of DOM changed dynamically during the degradation process, indicating that microorganism would turn to degrade aromatic and hydrophobic fractions for carbon source after the depletion of labile DOM. Overall, the transformation from NF of C. carlesii into SF and AR could increase the proportion of the easily degradable DOC, and enhance the biodegradability of soil DOM, which were not conducive to the accumulation of SOC.
