Priming effects in soils across Europe

Siles, J.A.; Díaz‐López, Marta; Vera, Alfonso; Eisenhauer, Nico; Guerra, Carlos A.; Smith, Linnea; Buscot, François; Reitz, Thomas; Breitkreuz, Claudia; Hoogen, Johan van den; Crowther, Thomas W.; Orgiazzi, Alberto; Kuzyakov, Yakov; Delgado‐Baquerizo, Manuel; Bastida, Felipe

doi:10.1111/gcb.16062

Cited by 32 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Based on these studies, it is clear today that the PE involves different microbial processes sometimes driven in opposite ways by environmental parameters. Soil properties, climate, land use (Bastida et al., 2019; Siles et al., 2022), but also the nature of the substrates entering the soil (e.g. simple compounds, complex compounds, plant residues or living roots) and the way they are added (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing the mechanistic understanding of the priming effect on soil organic matter mineralisation

et al. 2022

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The priming effect (PE) is a key mechanism contributing to the carbon balance of the soil ecosystem. Almost 100 years of research since its discovery in 1926 have led to a rich body of scientific publications to identify the drivers and mechanisms involved. A few review articles have summarised the acquired knowledge; the last major one was published in 2010. Since then, knowledge on the soil microbial communities involved in PE and in PE + C sequestration mechanisms has been considerably renewed. This article reviews current knowledge on soil PE to state to what extent new insights may improve our ability to understand and predict the evolution of soil C stocks. We propose a framework to unify the different concepts and terms that have emerged from the international scientific community on this topic, report recent discoveries and identify key research needs. Seventy per cent of the studies on the soil PE were published in the last 10 years, illustrating a renewed interest for PE, probably linked to the increased concern about the importance of soil carbon for climate change and food security issues. Among all the drivers and mechanisms proposed along with the different studies to explain PE, some are named differently but actually refer to the same object. This overall introduces ‘artificial’ complexity for the mechanistic understanding of PE, and we propose a common, shared terminology. Despite the remaining knowledge gaps, consistent progress has been achieved to decipher the abiotic mechanisms underlying PE, together with the role of enzymes and the identity of the microbial actors involved. However, including PE into mechanistic models of SOM dynamics remains challenging as long as the mechanisms are not fully understood. In the meantime, empirical alternatives are available that reproduce observations accurately when calibration is robust. Based on the current state of knowledge, we propose different scenarios depicting to what extent PE may impact ecosystem services under climate change conditions. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing the mechanistic understanding of the priming effect on soil organic matter mineralisation

et al. 2022

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“…3). In recent literature, negative priming received less attention than positive priming, even though negative priming is an important process across ecosystems (Guenet et al 2010;Blagodatskaya et al 2011;Bastida et al 2019;Siles et al 2022). Our results indicate that preferential substrate use is one of the key drivers of negative priming effects (Cheng and Kuzyakov 2005;Blagodatskaya et al 2007;Wang et al 2015).…”

Section: Preferential Substrate Use Decreases Priming Effectsmentioning

confidence: 59%

Preferential substrate use decreases priming effects in contrasting treeline soils

Michel

Hartley

Buckeridge

et al. 2022

Preprint

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In high altitudes and high latitudes climate change manifests in upward and northward shifting treelines. This entails changes to the carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) composition of organic inputs to soils and can increase or decrease microbial mineralisation of native soil organic matter (positive or negative priming effect). It is currently unknown whether the observed treeline shifts will lead to carbon loss or storage in the soils of these ecosystems. We therefore investigated priming effects in treeline soils from high altitudes (Peruvian Andes) and high latitudes (subarctic Sweden). In a laboratory soil incubation, we added realistic amounts of organic carbon at a constant ratio of 30% substrate-C to each soils’ microbial biomass C. Substrate additions were neutral in pH and covered different C:N ratios, representing naturally occurring substances of the studied ecosystems. We observed a clear pattern linking the direction of priming (positive or negative) to land cover (boreal or tropical forest, tundra heath, Puna grassland) and soil horizon (organic or mineral). Mechanistically, no support was found for N-mining to induce positive priming, indeed half of all priming effects were negative. Whenever negative priming prevailed, the decrease in SOM-mineralisation was consistently linked to increased microbial substrate utilisation. In line with other recent studies, our results suggest preferential substrate use is pervasive, linked to negative priming and a promising tool to increase soil carbon storage. Yet, the positive priming observed alerts climate change-induced upwards shifts in high altitudes and deeper rooting plants in high latitudes may cause C-loss via positive priming.

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“…This is even more pronounced when the addition of material implies an increase in labile C input [51,52], as confirmed by modelling data. This is of a special interest in agroecosystems such as cropland soils, as microorganism are more strongly C limited and respond intensively to fresh C inputs [53]. Thus, this significant PE with the application of a more mature compost material indicates that this practice may stimulate soil microbial activation by greater C availability [54,9]; however, this may not necessarily involve an enhance in soil C sequestration.…”

Section: Priming Effectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of Maize Compost in a Mediterranean Agricultural Soil: Implications for Carbon Sequestration

et al. 2023

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Compost amendments, apart from improving fertility and the general characteristics of agricultural soils, have known implications for global C cycling and sequestration in soils. Their effects are usually assessed via the quantification of soil organic carbon (SOC) pools, usually labile (fast) and recalcitrant (slow) pools, with varying intrinsic decomposition rates and distinct resident times. However, the real C-sequestration potential of organic additions to soil is still under discussion. In this study, a field trial and a lab incubation experiment were designed to study the C-sequestration mechanism in an agricultural Mediterranean soil. Soil with a history of C3 photosystem crop was amended with two maize composts from maize harvesting surpluses (C4 photosystem) with different maturity stages (AC: aged compost; NC: new, less mature compost). The evolution of SOM was monitored for 6 months using complementary analytical techniques, including analysis of stable C isotopes (IRMS), thermogravimetry (TG) and C-stock and priming effect (PE) modelling. Based on the natural C-isotope labelling, the proportion of new C was calculated. More than 50% of the C added to the soil with the compost was incorporated into the SOM in only 6 months. However, the application of maize compost did not always enhance soil C-sequestration capacity. The addition of compost caused a general PE, enhancing SOM decay and reducing the fast (labile) SOM mean residence time (MRT) (11.2 days). This was more pronounced with the addition of a higher dose of AC, causing a PE up to a 718%. On the other hand, a higher MRT (54.4 days) occurred in soils with NC applied, likely due to its deleterious effects, limiting heterotrophic activity. Despite that, the average MRT of the slow (recalcitrant) SOM pool was lower than usually reported. The application of higher doses of both composts generally showed greater MRT values compared to control (1.7 years vs. 3.8 and 2.9 years for NC and AC, respectively), leading to an increase in this more stable C pool and effective soil C sequestration. The results described in this work may help readers to better understand SOM dynamics and may be of use in designing appropriate management strategies for improving OM quantity and quality and to optimize C storage in Mediterranean soils.

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Priming effects in soils across Europe

Cited by 32 publications

References 82 publications

Advancing the mechanistic understanding of the priming effect on soil organic matter mineralisation

Advancing the mechanistic understanding of the priming effect on soil organic matter mineralisation

Preferential substrate use decreases priming effects in contrasting treeline soils

Evolution of Maize Compost in a Mediterranean Agricultural Soil: Implications for Carbon Sequestration

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