Effects of land use intensity on dissolved organic carbon properties and microbial community structure

2012 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 67-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Tian ◽  
Mingsheng Fan ◽  
Jingheng Guo ◽  
Petra Marschner ◽  
Xiaolin Li ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Jarosch ◽  
Luis Carlos Colocho Hurtarte ◽  
Konstantin Gavazov ◽  
Aleksander Westphal Muniz ◽  
Christoph Müller ◽  
...  

<p>The conversion of tropical forest for cassava cultivation is widely known to decrease the soil organic matter (OM) and nutrient contents of highly weathered soils in the tropics. Amazonian Dark Earth (ADE) might be affected less due to their historical anthropogenic amelioration with e.g. charcoal, ceramics and bones, leading to higher soil OM and nutrient concentrations. In this study, we analysed the effect of land use change on the OM dynamics and its composition under tropical conditions, using ADE and an adjacent Acrisol (ACR) as model systems. Soil samples were obtained south of Manaus (Brazil), from a secondary forest and an adjacently located 40-year-old cassava plantation. The land use change induced a severe decrease of organic carbon (OC) concentrations in ADE (from 35 to 15 g OC kg<sup>‑1</sup>) while OC in the adjacent ACR was less affected (18 to 16 g OC kg<sup>‑1</sup>). Soils were analysed by <sup>13</sup>C NMR spectroscopy to obtain information on how the conversion of secondary forest to cassava affected the chemical composition of OM. Our results show that land use change induces differences in the OM composition: The OM in ADE changes to a more decomposed state (increase of alkyl:O/N-alkyl ratio) whereas the OM in ACR changes to a less decomposed state (decrease of alkyl:O/N-alkyl ratio). According to a molecular mixing model, land use change influenced mostly the proportion of lipids, which might be related with a change of the plant input. The incubation of the soils with <sup>13</sup>C glucose enabled resolving how soil microorganisms were affected by land use change. In both soil types ADE and ACR, land use change caused a reduction of the total <sup>13</sup>C glucose respiration by approximately one third in a 7-days incubation, implying lower microbial activity. Microorganisms in both soil types appear to be more readily active in soils under forest, since we observed a distinct lag time between <sup>13</sup>C glucose addition and respiration under cassava planation. This indicated differences in microbial community structure, which we will assess further by determining the <sup>13</sup>C label uptake by the microbial biomass and the microbial community structure using <sup>13</sup>C PLFA analysis. Preliminary results from synchrotron-based STXM demonstrate a distinct arrangement of OM at fine-sized charcoal-particle interfaces. Samples of soils receiving <sup>13</sup>C label will be further analysed by NanoSIMS with the hypothesis that charcoal interfaces foster nutrient dynamics at the microscale. Despite the high loss of OC in the ameliorated ADE through land use change, the remaining OM might improve the nutrient availability thanks to charcoal interactions compared to the ACR. Our results contribute to a better understanding of the sensitivity of OM upon land use change and how the microbial community is responding to land use change in highly weathered tropical soils.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueying Zhang ◽  
Xiaomei Chen ◽  
Muying Liu ◽  
Zhanying Xu ◽  
Hui Wei

Abstract Climate change and rapid urbanization have greatly impacted urban forest ecosystems and the carbon (C) cycle. To assess the effects of urbanization on forest soil C and soil microorganisms, six natural forests in a highly-urbanized region were selected as the research objects. Soil samples were collected to investigate the content and fractions of the soil organic carbon (SOC), as well as the soil microbial community composition. The results showed that the SOC content and fractions were substantially lower in the urban forests than in the suburban forests. Meanwhile, the total amount of phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) at suburban sites was twice more than that at urban sites, with shifts in microbial community structure. The potential differences in C inputs and nutrient limitation in urban forests may aggravate the low quantity and quality of SOC and consequently impact microbial community abundance and structure. Variation in microbial community structure was found to explain the loss of soil C pools by affecting the C inputs and promoting the decomposition of SOC. Therefore, the coupled changes in SOC and soil microorganisms induced by urbanization may adversely affect soil C sequestration in subtropical forests.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Minghui Liu ◽  
Xin Sui ◽  
Yanbo Hu ◽  
Fujuan Feng

Abstract Background The broad-leaved Korean pine mixed forest is an important and typical component of a global temperate forest. Soil microbes are the main driver of biogeochemical cycling in this forest ecosystem and have complex interactions with carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) components in the soil. Results We investigated the vertical soil microbial community structure in a primary Korean pine-broadleaved mixed forest in Changbai Mountain (from 699 to 1177 m) and analyzed the relationship between the microbial community and both C and N components in the soil. The results showed that the total phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) of soil microbes and Gram-negative bacteria (G-), Gram-positive bacteria (G+), fungi (F), arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and Actinomycetes varied significantly (p < 0.05) at different sites (elevations). The ratio of fungal PLFAs to bacterial PLFAs (F/B) was higher at site H1, and H2. The relationship between microbial community composition and geographic distance did not show a distance-decay pattern. The coefficients of variation for bacteria were maximum among different sites (elevations). Total soil organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), soil water content (W), and the ratio of breast-height basal area of coniferous trees to that of broad-leaved tree species (RBA) were the main contributors to the variation observed in each subgroup of microbial PLFAs. The structure equation model showed that TOC had a significant direct effect on bacterial biomass and an indirect effect upon bacterial and fungal biomass via soil readily oxidized organic carbon (ROC). No significant relationship was observed between soil N fraction and the biomass of fungi and bacteria. Conclusion The total PLFAs (tPLFA) and PLFAs of soil microbes, including G-, G+, F, AMF, and Actinomycetes, were significantly affected by elevation. Bacteria were more sensitive to changes in elevation than other microbes. Environmental heterogeneity was the main factor affecting the geographical distribution pattern of microbial community structure. TOC, TN, W and RBA were the main driving factors for the change in soil microbial biomass. C fraction was the main factor affecting the biomass of fungi and bacteria and ROC was one of the main sources of the microbial-derived C pool.


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