title: Plant diversity increases soil microbial activity and soil carbon storage.
abstract: Plant diversity strongly influences ecosystem functions and services, such as soil carbon storage. However, the mechanisms underlying the positive plant diversity effects on soil carbon storage are poorly understood. We explored this relationship using long-term data from a grassland biodiversity experiment (The Jena Experiment) and radiocarbon ((14)C) modelling. Here we show that higher plant diversity increases rhizosphere carbon inputs into the microbial community resulting in both increased microbial activity and carbon storage. Increases in soil carbon were related to the enhanced accumulation of recently fixed carbon in high-diversity plots, while plant diversity had less pronounced effects on the decomposition rate of existing carbon. The present study shows that elevated carbon storage at high plant diversity is a direct function of the soil microbial community, indicating that the increase in carbon storage is mainly limited by the integration of new carbon into soil and less by the decomposition of existing soil carbon.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, POB 100164, 07701 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.identifier: 0000000228029177
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.affiliation: 1] Institute of Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger Strasse 159, 07743 Jena, Germany [2] German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany [3] Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Johannisallee 21, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Eisenhauer
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, POB 100164, 07701 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Carlos A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Sierra
authors.affiliation: Division of Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bessler
authors.affiliation: Division of Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Engels
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK.
authors.forename: Robert I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, POB 100164, 07701 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Perla G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Mellado-Vázquez
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, POB 100164, 07701 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Ashish A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecotron-UPS 3248, Campus Baillarguet, 34980 Montferrier-sur-Lez, France.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.affiliation: J.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, Georg August University Göttingen, Berliner Strasse 28, 37073 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scheu
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, POB 100164, 07701 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Sibylle
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Steinbeiss
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK.
authors.forename: Bruce C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, POB 100164, 07701 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Susan E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Trumbore
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, POB 100164, 07701 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Gerd
authors.identifier: 0000000246160953
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gleixner
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D002244:Carbon; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D017753:Ecosystem; D005858:Germany; D065948:Grassland; D010944:Plants; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D012987:Soil; D002244:Carbon