1. Carbon budgets of top- and subsoil food webs in an arable system.
- Author
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Pausch, Johanna, Hünninghaus, Maike, Kramer, Susanne, Scharroba, Anika, Scheunemann, Nicole, Butenschoen, Olaf, Marhan, Sven, Bonkowski, Michael, Kandeler, Ellen, Scheu, Stefan, Kuzyakov, Yakov, and Ruess, Liliane
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CARBON in soils , *FOOD chains , *ARABLE land , *SOIL microbiology , *SOIL fungi , *PROTISTA , *SOIL nematodes , *SOIL invertebrates - Abstract
This study assessed the carbon (C) budget and the C stocks in major compartments of the soil food web (bacteria, fungi, protists, nematodes, meso- and macrofauna) in an arable field with/without litter addition. The C stocks in the food web were more than three times higher in topsoil (0–10 cm) compared to subsoil (>40 cm). Microorganisms contained over 95% of food web C, with similar contributions of bacteria and fungi in topsoil. Litter addition did not alter C pools of soil biota after one growing season, except for the increase of fungi and fungal feeding nematodes in the topsoil. However, the C budget for functional groups changed with depth, particularly in the microfauna. This suggests food web resilience to litter amendment in terms of C pool sizes after one growing season. In contrast, the distinct depth dependent pattern indicates specific metacommunities, likely shaped by dominant abiotic and biotic habitat properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
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