Abstract
Soil contains the largest terrestrial pool of carbon (C), but how this pool will be affected by global change remains unknown. Warmer temperatures generally increase soil respiration, while additional C inputs from plants to soil can increase or decrease soil C decomposition rates through a phenomenon known as priming. Priming occurs when soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition rates change in response to a fresh substrate, though the mechanisms underlying priming are poorly understood. Here, we measured priming in four ecosystems during a seven-week incubation with weekly glucose additions. Soil was collected from field warming experiments in the four ecosystems, so our experiment assessed the influence of long-term warming on priming. All treatments exhibited negative priming (reduced SOM decomposition) after the first substrate pulse. Subsequent substrate pulses elicited variable responses, and the effect of long-term warming on priming was ecosystem-dependent. Priming was correlated with changes in soil C and N in response to warming: ecosystems that lost soil C and N over nine years of experimental warming exhibited low rates of priming (decreased SOM decomposition), while ecosystems that gained soil C and N in response to warming had high priming. Consequently, priming may accelerate C losses in ecosystems that exhibit warming-induced C increases, and vice versa, thus partially buffering soil C content against change.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 110-116 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Applied Soil Ecology |
Volume | 124 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2018 |
Keywords
- Climate change
- Priming
- SOM decomposition
- Warming
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Soil Science