Bioenergetic control of soil carbon dynamics across depth

Henneron, Ludovic; Balesdent, Jérôme; Alvarez, Gaël; Barré, Pierre; Baudin, François; Basile‐Doelsch, Isabelle; Cécillon, Lauric; Fernández-Martı́nez, Alejandro; Hatté, Christine; Fontaine, Sébastien

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-34951-w

Cited by 48 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…Several studies have reported that the energetic characteristics of persistent SOC are different from those of fresh SOC. Persistent SOC tends to be more thermally stable and its combustion generates less energy (e.g., Barré et al 2016 ; Hemingway et al 2019 ; Henneron et al 2022 ; Plante et al 2011 ; Plante et al 2013 ). These observations suggest that SOC persists when the cost of its degradation is too high relative to the benefit to microorganisms.…”

Section: Controversial Issues and New Challenges In Research On Mecha...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Spatial inaccessibility may be altered by changes in local environmental conditions. Such modifications can be the result of energetic investment by decomposers in the production of weathering agents (e.g., protons, siderophores), that desorb substrates associated with minerals and increase their accessibility (Henneron et al 2022 ). The extent of this investment varies with the type of bond to be broken: more investment is required to break covalent bonds between OM and mineral surfaces than to break electrostatic bonds between oppositely charged organic and mineral ions (Kleber et al 2015 ).…”

Section: Controversial Issues and New Challenges In Research On Mecha...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Current controversies on mechanisms controlling soil carbon storage: implications for interactions with practitioners and policy-makers. A review

Derrien

Barré

Basile‐Doelsch

et al. 2023

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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There is currently an intense debate about the potential for additional organic carbon storage in soil, the strategies by which it may be accomplished and what the actual benefits might be for agriculture and the climate. Controversy forms an essential part of the scientific process, but on the topic of soil carbon storage, it may confuse the agricultural community and the general public and may delay actions to fight climate change. In an attempt to shed light on this topic, the originality of this article lies in its intention to provide a balanced description of contradictory scientific opinions on soil carbon storage and to examine how the scientific community can support decision-making despite the controversy. In the first part, we review and attempt to reconcile conflicting views on the mechanisms controlling organic carbon dynamics in soil. We discuss the divergent opinions about chemical recalcitrance, the microbial or plant origin of persistent soil organic matter, the contribution of particulate organic matter to additional organic carbon storage in soil, and the spatial and energetic inaccessibility of soil organic matter to decomposers. In the second part, we examine the advantages and limitations of big data management and modeling, which are essential tools to link the latest scientific theories with the actions taken by stakeholders. Finally, we show how the analysis and discussion of controversies can guide scientists in supporting stakeholders for the design of (i) appropriate trade-offs for biomass use in agriculture and forestry and (ii) climate-smart management practices, keeping in mind their still unresolved effects on soil carbon storage.

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Section: Controversial Issues and New Challenges In Research On Mecha...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Controversial Issues and New Challenges In Research On Mecha...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Current controversies on mechanisms controlling soil carbon storage: implications for interactions with practitioners and policy-makers. A review

Derrien

Barré

Basile‐Doelsch

et al. 2023

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

Self Cite

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“…Soil is the largest C reservoir in terrestrial ecosystems (Chapin et al, 2009), surpassing the combined amounts in the atmosphere and vegetation (Ramesh et al, 2019). Soil C is strongly regulated by soil depth (Henneron et al, 2022; Schrumpf et al, 2013), and the amount of SOC in the subsoil (>20 cm below the ground) surpasses half of the global C stocks (Rumpel et al, 2012). However, most of our research efforts have focused on changes in surface SOC (Henneron et al, 2022), and few general conclusions have been drawn regarding the changes in depth distribution of SOC after GE.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Soil C is strongly regulated by soil depth (Henneron et al, 2022; Schrumpf et al, 2013), and the amount of SOC in the subsoil (>20 cm below the ground) surpasses half of the global C stocks (Rumpel et al, 2012). However, most of our research efforts have focused on changes in surface SOC (Henneron et al, 2022), and few general conclusions have been drawn regarding the changes in depth distribution of SOC after GE. For example, Cui et al (2021) found that SOC in the surface soil layer (0–10 cm) decreased or remained stable under GE.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate factors regulate the depth dependency of soil organic carbon under grazing exclusion in Chinese grasslands: A meta‐analysis

Peng

Shi

et al. 2023

Land Degrad Dev

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Soil carbon (C) is one of the most abundant C pools in terrestrial ecosystems, and its dynamics is highly dependent on soil depth. Grazing exclusion (GE) has proven to be a promising approach for enhancing C sequestration; however, the comprehensive analysis on the depth distribution of soil C and driving factors of soil C dynamics under GE are still lacking. This study collected data comprising 563 paired observations from 75 papers to analyze the distribution characteristics and the driving factors of soil organic carbon (SOC) changes with soil depth under GE in Chinese grasslands. The results showed that GE positively contributed to soil C sequestration, and the change range of SOC were higher (47.70%) in the subsoil (>20 cm) than in the topsoil layer (0–20 cm; 29.24%). Furthermore, SOC was influenced by GE duration, exhibiting an increasing trend and reaching its highest value at 13–15 years of GE, then remaining stable or slightly decreasing thereafter. Boosted regression trees (BRTs) showed that climatic factors were the primary determinants of SOC changes; however, the key drivers of SOC varied across different soil depths. Mean annual precipitation (MAP) was the key driver of topsoil C dynamics, accounting for 32.7% of the variance. In contrast, mean annual temperature (MAT) regulated the response of subsoil SOC to GE, explaining 48.23% of the variance. In addition, plant biomass was a significant factor influencing the depth distribution of soil C under GE, and its effect on SOC decreased with increasing soil depth. Our study provides evidence that the subsoil has a greater potential for C sequestration than the topsoil layer after GE, and future studies should consider deep soil C dynamics to accurately assess C sequestration in grassland ecosystems.

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“…First, most work on distribution patterns of microbial diversity reservoirs has been done within few meters of soil (Jiao et al., 2018; Kong et al., 2022; Luan et al., 2020). In fact, in soils beneath several meters, due to environmental peculiarities (e.g., poor aeration, water mobility, and nutrient; Henneron et al., 2022; Li, Ma, et al., 2021; Maier et al., 2020), there may be still some diverse microbes that have their survival strategies. However, much less is known about the microbial community structure dozens of meters under our feet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deciphering microbiomes dozens of meters under our feet and their edaphoclimatic and spatial drivers

He,

Zhou,

Wang

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

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Microbes inhabiting deep soil layers are known to be different from their counterpart in topsoil yet remain under investigation in terms of their structure, function, and how their diversity is shaped. The microbiome of deep soils (>1 m) is expected to be relatively stable and highly independent from climatic conditions. Much less is known, however, on how these microbial communities vary along climate gradients. Here, we used amplicon sequencing to investigate bacteria, archaea, and fungi along fifteen 18‐m depth profiles at 20–50‐cm intervals across contrasting aridity conditions in semi‐arid forest ecosystems of China's Loess Plateau. Our results showed that bacterial and fungal α diversity and bacterial and archaeal community similarity declined dramatically in topsoil and remained relatively stable in deep soil. Nevertheless, deep soil microbiome still showed the functional potential of N cycling, plant‐derived organic matter degradation, resource exchange, and water coordination. The deep soil microbiome had closer taxa–taxa and bacteria–fungi associations and more influence of dispersal limitation than topsoil microbiome. Geographic distance was more influential in deep soil bacteria and archaea than in topsoil. We further showed that aridity was negatively correlated with deep‐soil archaeal and fungal richness, archaeal community similarity, relative abundance of plant saprotroph, and bacteria–fungi associations, but increased the relative abundance of aerobic ammonia oxidation, manganese oxidation, and arbuscular mycorrhizal in the deep soils. Root depth, complexity, soil volumetric moisture, and clay play bridging roles in the indirect effects of aridity on microbes in deep soils. Our work indicates that, even microbial communities and nutrient cycling in deep soil are susceptible to changes in water availability, with consequences for understanding the sustainability of dryland ecosystems and the whole‐soil in response to aridification. Moreover, we propose that neglecting soil depth may underestimate the role of soil moisture in dryland ecosystems under future climate scenarios.

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Bioenergetic control of soil carbon dynamics across depth

Cited by 48 publications

References 92 publications

Current controversies on mechanisms controlling soil carbon storage: implications for interactions with practitioners and policy-makers. A review

Current controversies on mechanisms controlling soil carbon storage: implications for interactions with practitioners and policy-makers. A review

Climate factors regulate the depth dependency of soil organic carbon under grazing exclusion in Chinese grasslands: A meta‐analysis

Deciphering microbiomes dozens of meters under our feet and their edaphoclimatic and spatial drivers

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