Protection of soil carbon within macro-aggregates depends on intra-aggregate pore characteristics.

ABSTRACT: Soil contains almost twice as much carbon (C) as the atmosphere and 5-15% of soil C is stored in a form of particulate organic matter (POM). Particulate organic matter C is regarded as one of the most labile components of the soil C, such that can be easily lost under right environmental settings. Conceptually, micro-environmental conditions are understood to be responsible for protection of soil C. However, quantitative knowledge of the specific mechanisms driving micro-environmental effects is still lacking. Here we combined CO2 respiration measurements of intact soil samples with X-ray computed micro-tomography imaging and investigated how micro-environmental conditions, represented by soil pores, influence decomposition of POM. We found that atmosphere-connected soil pores influenced s

SUBMITTER: Kravchenko AN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4635377 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature