Biogeochemical evolution of soil organic matter composition after a decade of warming and nitrogen addition

• Published in: Biogeochemistry 2021-11, Vol.156 (2), p.161-175
• Main Authors: vandenEnden, Lori, Anthony, Mark A., Frey, Serita D., Simpson, Myrna J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Additives; Biogeochemistry; Biogeosciences; Chemical composition; Critical components; Decomposition; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Ecological effects; Ecological research; Ecosystems; Environmental changes; Environmental Chemistry; Evolution; Forest soils; Life Sciences; Nitrogen; Organic matter; Organic soils; Soil; Soil analysis; Soil organic matter; Storage
• ISSN: 0168-2563; 1573-515X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10533-021-00837-0

Forest soils are an important carbon (C) sink and critical component of the global C cycle. Warmer temperatures and increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition are altering the biogeochemistry in forest soils and disrupting the intricate balance between C storage and C respired across the globe. The molecular biogeochemistry of soil organic matter (SOM) with warming, N-addition, and simultaneous warming and N-addition was analyzed in soil samples from the Soil Warming × Nitrogen Addition Study at the Harvard Forest Long-term Ecological Research Site using advanced techniques. The results unequivocally demonstrate that warming and N-addition alter the molecular composition of SOM as individual stressors uniquely and in combination. Warming alone and in combination with N-addition accelerated SOM decomposition while N-addition alone slowed SOM degradation. The two-factor N-addition and warming plots contain SOM more like the warming only plots but exhibited unique changes over time (from 4 to 10 years) that could not be predicted by studying N-addition or warming alone. The specific SOM components and the overall SOM decomposition suggests that N-addition and warming impacts are not additive. N-addition may hinder warming impacts antagonistically over time but not to the extent where advanced SOM decomposition from warming is supplanted. As such, the results from warming alone and N-addition alone are not necessarily additive compared to the observed SOM molecular compositional changes when these treatments are applied simultaneously. Marked evolution in the molecular biogeochemistry of SOM demonstrates the sensitivity of SOM trajectories to multiple interactive global environmental changes and the continued need to study long-term impacts more holistically.