Molecular dynamics of shoot vs. root biomarkers in an agricultural soil estimated by natural abundance 13C labelling

Mendez-Millan, Mercedes; Dignac, Marie-France; Rumpel, Cornélia; Rasse, Daniel P.; Derenne, Sylvie

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2009.10.010

Cited by 99 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…4.1), Simpson et al (2008) observed the preferential enrichment of suberin monomers with respect to cutin monomers, which was confirmed by Mendez-Millan et al (2010b). In addition to the physical location of suberin versus cutin as a potential cause, Simpson et al (2008) suggested a higher resistance of suberin to degradation than cutin owing to a larger content of phenolic units in the former.…”

Section: Cutin and Suberin Monomersmentioning

confidence: 67%

Opportunities and limitations related to the application of plant-derived lipid molecular proxies in soil science

Jansen

Wiesenberg

2017

SOIL

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Abstract. The application of lipids in soils as molecular proxies, also often referred to as biomarkers, has dramatically increased in the last decades. Applications range from inferring changes in past vegetation composition, climate, and/or human presence to unraveling the input and turnover of soil organic matter (SOM). The molecules used are extractable and non-extractable lipids, including ester-bound lipids. In addition, the carbon or hydrogen isotopic composition of such molecules is used. While holding great promise, the application of soil lipids as molecular proxies comes with several constraining factors, the most important of which are (i) variability in the molecular composition of plant-derived organic matter both internally and between individual plants, (ii) variability in (the relative contribution of) input pathways into the soil, and (iii) the transformation and/or (selective) degradation of (some of) the molecules once present in the soil. Unfortunately, the information about such constraining factors and their impact on the applicability of molecular proxies is fragmented and scattered. The purpose of this study is to provide a critical review of the current state of knowledge with respect to the applicability of molecular proxies in soil science, specifically focusing on the factors constraining such applicability. Variability in genetic, ontogenetic, and environmental factors influences plant n-alkane patterns in such a way that no unique compounds or specific molecular proxies pointing to, for example, plant community differences or environmental influences, exist. Other components, such as n-alcohols, n-fatty acids, and cutin-and suberin-derived monomers, have received far less attention in this respect. Furthermore, there is a high diversity of input pathways offering both opportunities and limitations for the use of molecular proxies at the same time. New modeling approaches might offer a possibility to unravel such mixed input signals. Finally, the transformation and turnover of SOM offer opportunities when tracing such processes is the purpose of applying a molecular proxy while imposing limitations when they obliterate the molecular proxy signals linked to other phenomena. For n-alkanes several modeling approaches have recently been developed to compensate for (selective) degradation. Still, such techniques are in their infancy and information about their applicability to classes of components other than n-alkanes is lacking. All constraining factors considered can have a significant influence on the applicability of molecular proxies in soil science. The degree of influence strongly depends on the type of molecular proxy and the environmental context in which it is applied. However, the potential impact of the constraining factors should always explicitly be addressed whenever molecular proxies are applied in a soil scientific context. More importantly, there is still a serious lack of available information, in particular for compound classes other than the n-alkanes. Therefore, we...

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Section: Cutin and Suberin Monomersmentioning

confidence: 67%

Opportunities and limitations related to the application of plant-derived lipid molecular proxies in soil science

Jansen

Wiesenberg

2017

SOIL

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“…Isotopic analyses and comparisons of root and shoot biomarkers confirm the dominance of root-derived molecular structures in soil 43 and of root-derived carbon in soil microorganisms 44 . Preferential retention of root-derived carbon has been observed in temperate forests 45,46 , for example, where belowground inputs, including fungal mycelia, make up a bigger fraction of new carbon in SOM than do leaf litter inputs 44,47 .…”

Section: Soil Humic Substancesmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…More generally, sequestration strategies based on adding recalcitrant material to soils, whether through plant selection for recalcitrant tissues or through biochar amendments, must be re-evaluated. Enhancing root carbon input to soils might be a more promising avenue, but it is not known what root properties influence rhizodeposition rates or stability 43 , or the extent to which root inputs will stimulate (prime) decomposition of other SOM.…”

Section: Phyto-engineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persistence of soil organic matter as an ecosystem property

Schmidt

Torn

Abiven

et al. 2011

Nature

4,741

106

3,153

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Globally, soil organic matter (SOM) contains more than three times as much carbon as either the atmosphere or terrestrial vegetation. Yet it remains largely unknown why some SOM persists for millennia whereas other SOM decomposes readily-and this limits our ability to predict how soils will respond to climate change. Recent analytical and experimental advances have demonstrated that molecular structure alone does not control SOM stability: in fact, environmental and biological controls predominate. Here we propose ways to include this understanding in a new generation of experiments and soil carbon models, thereby improving predictions of the SOM response to global warming.Understanding soil biogeochemistry is essential to the stewardship of ecosystem services provided by soils, such as soil fertility (for food, fibre and fuel production), water quality, resistance to erosion and climate mitigation through reduced feedbacks to climate change. Soils store at least three times as much carbon (in SOM) as is found in either the atmosphere or in living plants 1 . This major pool of organic carbon is sensitive to changes in climate or local environment, but how and on what timescale will it respond to such changes? The feedbacks between soil organic carbon and climate are not fully understood, so we are not fully able to answer these questions 2-7 , but we can explore them using numerical models of soil-organic-carbon cycling. We can not only simulate feedbacks between climate change and ecosystems, but also evaluate management options and analyse carbon sequestration and biofuel strategies. These models, however, rest on some assumptions that have been challenged and even disproved by recent research arising from new isotopic, spectroscopic and molecularmarker techniques and long-term field experiments.Here we describe how recent evidence has led to a framework for understanding SOM cycling, and we highlight new approaches that could lead us to a new generation of soil carbon models, which could better reflect observations and inform predictions and policies.

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“…Roots are a major source supplying C to soil organic matter, the largest reservoir of the terrestrial C cycle (Mendez-Millan et al 2010;Rasse et al 2005;Schlesinger 1997). The organic compounds contained in dead roots are transformed by decomposition and are partly converted to stable forms of soil organic matter or are being mineralized (Trumbore 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No depth-dependence of fine root litter decomposition in temperate beech forest soils

et al. 2015

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Aims Subsoil organic carbon (OC) tends to be older and is presumed to be more stable than topsoil OC, but the reasons for this are not yet resolved. One hypothesis is that decomposition rates decrease with increasing soil depth. We tested whether decomposition rates of beech fine root litter varied with depth for a range of soils using a litterbag experiment in German beech forest plots. Methods In three study regions (Schorfheide-Chorin, Hainich-Dün and Schwäbische-Alb), we buried 432 litterbags containing 0.5 g of standardized beech root material (fine roots with a similar chemical composition collected from 2 year old Fagus sylvatica L. saplings, root diameter<2mm) at three different soil depths (5, 20 and 35 cm). The decomposition rates as well as the changes in the carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) concentrations of the decomposing fine root litter were determined at a 6 months interval during a 2 years field experiment. Results The amount of root litter remaining after 2 years of field incubation differed between the study regions (76 ± 2 % in Schorfheide-Chorin, 85 ± 2 % in Schwäbische-Alb, and 88±2 % in Hainich-Dün) but did not vary with soil depth. Conclusions Our results indicate that the initial fine root decomposition rates are more influenced by regional scale differences in environmental conditions including climate and soil parent material, than by changes in microbial activities with soil depth. Moreover, they suggest that a similar potential to decompose new resources in the form of root litter exists in both surface and deep soils

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Molecular dynamics of shoot vs. root biomarkers in an agricultural soil estimated by natural abundance 13C labelling

Cited by 99 publications

References 56 publications

Opportunities and limitations related to the application of plant-derived lipid molecular proxies in soil science

Opportunities and limitations related to the application of plant-derived lipid molecular proxies in soil science

Persistence of soil organic matter as an ecosystem property

No depth-dependence of fine root litter decomposition in temperate beech forest soils

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