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Diverse Soil Carbon Dynamics Expressed at the Molecular Level
- Source :
- Geophysical Research Letters. 44:11-11,850
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2017.
-
Abstract
- The stability and potential vulnerability of soil organic matter (SOM) to global change remains incompletely understood due to the complex processes involved in its formation and turnover. Here we combine compound-specific radiocarbon analysis with fraction-specific and bulk-level radiocarbon measurements in order to further elucidate controls on SOM dynamics in a temperate and sub-alpine forested ecosystem. Radiocarbon contents of individual organic compounds isolated from the same soil interval generally exhibit greater variation than those among corresponding operationally-defined fractions. Notably, markedly older ages of long-chain plant leaf wax lipids (n-alkanoic acids) imply that they reflect a highly stable carbon pool. Furthermore, marked 14C variations among shorter- and longer-chain n-alkanoic acid homologues suggest that they track different SOM pools. Extremes in SOM dynamics thus manifest themselves within a single compound class. This exploratory study highlights the potential of compound-specific radiocarbon analysis for understanding SOM dynamics in ecosystems potentially vulnerable to global change.
- Subjects :
- 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Chemistry
Ecology
Soil organic matter
chemistry.chemical_element
Global change
04 agricultural and veterinary sciences
Soil carbon
01 natural sciences
humanities
law.invention
Geophysics
Molecular level
law
040103 agronomy & agriculture
Temperate climate
0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries
General Earth and Planetary Sciences
Ecosystem
Radiocarbon dating
Carbon
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00948276
- Volume :
- 44
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........1422c8bff4b784c36ccb30bc951ad491