title: Quality of fresh organic matter affects priming of soil organic matter and substrate utilization patterns of microbes.
abstract: Changes in biogeochemical cycles and the climate system due to human activities are expected to change the quantity and quality of plant litter inputs to soils. How changing quality of fresh organic matter (FOM) might influence the priming effect (PE) on soil organic matter (SOM) mineralization is still under debate. Here we determined the PE induced by two (13)C-labeled FOMs with contrasting nutritional quality (leaf vs. stalk of Zea mays L.). Soils from two different forest types yielded consistent results: soils amended with leaf tissue switched faster from negative PE to positive PE due to greater microbial growth compared to soils amended with stalks. However, after 16 d of incubation, soils amended with stalks had a higher PE than those amended with leaf. Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) results suggested that microbial demand for carbon and other nutrients was one of the major determinants of the PE observed. Therefore, consideration of both microbial demands for nutrients and FOM supply simultaneously is essential to understand the underlying mechanisms of PE. Our study provided evidence that changes in FOM quality could affect microbial utilization of substrate and PE on SOM mineralization, which may exacerbate global warming problems under future climate change.
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China [2] University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2138, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Boutton
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
authors.forename: Wenhua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China [2] University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
authors.forename: Guoqing
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
authors.forename: Edith
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bai
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D008903:Minerals / Q000378:metabolism; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry*; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000378:metabolism; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D005227:Fatty Acids; D008903:Minerals; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D010743:Phospholipids; D012987:Soil; D002245:Carbon Dioxide