Dataset Information

Recalcitrant carbon components in glomalin-related soil protein facilitate soil organic carbon preservation in tropical forests.

ABSTRACT: Glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) is known as an important microbial by-product which is crucial for preserving or accumulating soil organic carbon (SOC). However, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. In this study, we investigated the chemical structures of GRSP and its relationship with SOC using 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in three tropical forests. The three forests, including a planted forest (PF), a secondary forest (MF) and a primary forest (BF), were selected to represent the natural successional process after disturbance in southern China. Results showed that the average concentrations of GRSP were (3.94 ± 1.09) mg cm-3 and accounting for (3.38 ± 1.15)% of the SOC in the top 10 cm soil. NMR analysis indicated rich aromatic C (~30%) and carboxyl C (~40%) in GRSP, and abundant alkyl C (~30%) and O-alkyl C (~50%) in SOC. The recalcitrance indexes (RI), as defined as the ratio of sum of alkyl C and aromatic C over sum of O-alkyl C and carboxyl C, was (98.6 ± 18.9)%, (145.5 ± 10.9)% and (20.7 ± 0.3)% in GRSP higher than that in SOC in the PF, MF and BF, respectively. This study demonstrated that the stubborn structure of GRSP probably regulate the resistance of SOC sequestration in tropical forests, especially in the planted and secondary forests.

SUBMITTER: Zhang J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5443815 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Recalcitrant carbon components in glomalin-related soil protein facilitate soil organic carbon preservation in tropical forests.

Zhang Jing J Tang Xuli X Zhong Siyuan S Yin Guangcai G Gao Yifei Y He Xinhua X

Scientific reports 20170524 1

Glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) is known as an important microbial by-product which is crucial for preserving or accumulating soil organic carbon (SOC). However, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. In this study, we investigated the chemical structures of GRSP and its relationship with SOC using <sup>13</sup>C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in three tropical forests. The three forests, including a planted forest (PF), a secondary forest (MF) and a primary forest (BF), were ...[more]

PMID: 28539640

Similar Datasets

Project description:Tropical montane forests (TMFs) play an important role as a carbon reservoir at a global scale. However, there is a lack of a comprehensive understanding on the variation in carbon storage across TMF compartments [namely aboveground biomass (AGB), belowground biomass (BGB), and soil organic matter] along altitudinal and environmental gradients and their potential trade-offs. This study aims to: 1) understand how carbon stocks vary along altitudinal gradients in Andean TMFs, and; 2) determine the influence of climate, particularly precipitation seasonality, on the distribution of carbon stocks across different forest compartments. The study was conducted in sixty 0.1 ha plots along two altitudinal gradients at the Podocarpus National Park (Ecuador) and Río Abiseo National Park (Peru). At each plot, we calculated the amount of carbon in AGB (i.e. aboveground carbon stock, AGC), BGB (i.e. belowground carbon stock, BGC), and soil organic matter (i.e. soil organic carbon stock, SOC). The mean total carbon stock was 244.76 ± 80.38 Mg ha-1 and 211.51 ± 46.95 Mg ha-1 in the Ecuadorian and Peruvian plots, respectively. Although AGC, BGC, and SOC showed different partitioning patterns along the altitudinal gradient both in Ecuador and Peru, total carbon stock did not change with altitude in either site. The combination of annual mean temperature and precipitation seasonality explained differences in the observed patterns of carbon stocks across forest compartments between the two sites. This study suggests that the greater precipitation seasonality of colder, higher altitudes may promote faster turnover rates of organic matter and nutrients and, consequently, less accumulation of SOC but greater AGC and BGC, compared to those sites with lesser precipitation seasonality. Our results demonstrate the capacity of TMFs to store substantial amounts of carbon and suggest the existence of a trade-off in carbon stocks among forest compartments, which could be partly driven by differences in precipitation seasonality, especially under the colder temperatures of high altitudes.

Project description:Regenerating tropical forests are increasingly important for their role in the global carbon cycle. Carbon stocks in above-ground biomass can recover to old-growth forest levels within 60-100 years. However, more than half of all carbon in tropical forests is stored below-ground, and our understanding of carbon storage in soils during tropical forest recovery is limited.Importantly, soil carbon accumulation does not necessarily reflect patterns in above-ground biomass carbon accrual during secondary forest succession, and factors related to past land use, species composition and soil characteristics may influence soil carbon storage during forest regrowth.Using tree census data and a measure of tree community shade tolerance (species-specific light response values), we assessed the relationship between soil organic carbon stocks and tree functional groups during secondary succession along a chronosequence of 40- to 120-year-old naturally regenerating secondary forest and old-growth tropical forest stands in Panama.While previous studies found no evidence for increasing soil C storage with secondary forest age, we found a strong relationship between tree functional composition and soil carbon stocks at 0-10 cm depth, whereby carbon stocks increased with the relative influence of light-demanding tree species. Light demanding trees had higher leaf nitrogen but lower leaf density than shade-tolerant trees, suggesting that rapid decomposition of nutrient-rich plant material in forests with a higher proportion of light-demanding species results in greater accumulation of carbon in the surface layer of soils. Synthesis. We propose that soil carbon storage in secondary tropical forests is more strongly linked to tree functional composition than forest age, and that the persistence of long-lived pioneer trees could enhance soil carbon storage as forests age. Considering shifts in tree functional groups could improve estimates of carbon sequestration potential for climate change mitigation by tropical forest regrowth. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Dataset Information

Recalcitrant carbon components in glomalin-related soil protein facilitate soil organic carbon preservation in tropical forests.

Publications

Recalcitrant carbon components in glomalin-related soil protein facilitate soil organic carbon preservation in tropical forests.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets