Ectomycorrhizal fungi introduced with exotic pine plantations induce soil carbon depletion

• Published in: Soil biology & biochemistry 2001-10, Vol.33 (12), p.1733-1740
• Main Authors: Chapela, Ignacio H., Osher, Laurie J., Horton, Thomas R., Henn, Matthew R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Biological and medical sciences; Carbon mining; Chemical, physicochemical, biochemical and biological properties; Economic plant physiology; Exotic species; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Generalities; Land-use change; Mycorrhiza; Paramo grassland; Physics, chemistry, biochemistry and biology of agricultural and forest soils; Pinus radiata; Plantation; Radiata pine; Saprotrophic fungi; Soil science; Symbiosis (nodules, symbiotic nitrogen fixation, mycorrhiza...)
• ISSN: 0038-0717; 1879-3428
• DOI: 10.1016/S0038-0717(01)00098-0

Exotic pine plantations are promoted for their presumed capacity to provide a net sink of atmospheric C. Millions of hectares worldwide will be subjected to conversion into plantations during the next decades. However, pine introductions are known to result in a marked depletion of soil C, a phenomenon which has remained unexplained. We studied plantations in paramo grasslands of Ecuador, where the effect of the exotic introduction of radiata pines ( Pinus radiata) and their accompanying ectomycorrhizal fungi can be studied in isolation from other ecosystem disturbances. We suggest that ectomycorrhizal fungi can extract C previously accumulated by paramo grasslands based on (a) a drastic simplification of the ectomycorrhizal community shown by direct DNA identification, (b) a loss of up to 30% soil C within