Fine root litter quality regulates soil carbon storage efficiency in subtropical forest soils

●High-quality and low-quality root litter had contrasting patterns of mass loss.●Greater litter-derived C was incorporated into soils under high-quality root litter.●Root litter decay rate or litter-derived C were related to soil microbial diversity.●Root litter quality had little effect on soil physicochemical properties.●High root litter quality was the main driver of enhanced soil C storage efficiency.Decomposing root litter is a major contributor to soil carbon(C)storage in forest soils.During decomposition,the quality of root litter could play a critical role in soil C storage.However,it is unclear whether root litter quality influences soil C storage efficiency.We conducted a two-year greenhouse decomposition experiment using 13C-labeled fine root litter of two tree species to investigate how root litter quality,represented by C to nitrogen(C/N)ratios,regulates decomposition and C storage efficiency in subtropical forest soils in China.‘High-quality’root litter(C/N ratio=26)decayed faster during the first year(0−410 days),whereas‘low-quality’root litter(C/N ratio=46)decomposed faster toward the end of the two-year period(598−767 days).However,over the two years of the study,mass loss from high-quality root litter(29.14±1.42%)was lower than‘low-quality’root litter(33.01±0.54%).Nonetheless,root litter C storage efficiency(i.e.,the ratio of new root litter-derived soil C to total mineralized root litter C)was significantly greater for high-quality root litter,with twice as much litter-derived C stored in soils compared to low-quality root litter at the end of the experiment.Root litter quality likely influenced soil C storage via changes in microbial diversity,as the decomposition of high-quality litter declined with increasing bacterial diversity,whereas the amount of litter-derived soil C from low-quality litter increased with fungal diversity.Our results thus reveal that root litter quality mediates decomposition and C storage in subtropical forest soils in China and future work should consider the links between root litter quality and soil microbial diversity.

Microaerobic Fe (Ⅱ) oxidation coupled to carbon assimilation processes driven by microbes from paddy soil

Microaerobic Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation process at neutral pH, driven by microbes can couple to carbon assimilation process in iron-rich freshwater and marine environments;however, few studies report such coupled processes in paddy soil of the critical zone in South China. In this study, rhizosphere soil from flooded paddy field was used as the inoculum to enrich the microaerophilic Fe(Ⅱ)-oxidizing bacteria(FeOB) in gradient tubes with different Fe(Ⅱ) substrates(FeS and FeCO_3) and ^(13)C-biocarbonate as inorganic carbon source to track the carbon assimilation. Kinetics of Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation and biomineralization were analyzed, and the composition and abundance of the microbial community were profiled using 16 S rRNA gene-based highthroughput sequencing. Results showed that microbial cell bands were formed 0.5–1.0 cm below the medium surface in the inoculated tubes with Fe(Ⅱ) substances, while no cell band was found in the non-inocula controls. The protein concentrations in the cell bands reached the highest values at 18.7–22.9 mg m^L(-1) on 6 d in the inocula tubes with Fe(Ⅱ) substrates. A plateau of the yields of ^(13)C-biocarbonate incorporation was observed during 6–15 d at 0.44–0.54% and 1.61–1.98% in the inocula tubes with FeS and FeCO_3, respectively. The inocula tube with FeS showed a higher Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation rate of 0.156 mmol L^(-1) d^(-1) than that with FeCO_3(0.106 mmol L^(-1) d^(-1)). Analyses of X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed that amorphous iron oxide was formed on the surface of rod-shaped bacteria after Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation.Relative to the agar only control, the abundances of Clostridium and Pseudogulbenkiania increased in the inocula tube with FeS,while those of Vogesella, Magnetospirillum, Solitalea, and Oxalicibacterium increased in the inocula tube with FeCO_3, all of which might be the potential microaerophilic FeOB in paddy soil. The findings in this study suggest that microbes that couple microaerobic Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation to carbon assimilation existed in the paddy soil, which provides an insight into the iron-carbon coupling transformation under microaerobic conditions in the critical zone of the iron-rich red soil.

Relationship between granitic soil particle-size distribution and shrinkage properties based on multifractal method

The mechanical properties of granitic residual soils vary with depth due to changes in soil type and heterogeneity caused by weathering.The purpose of this study was to relate the spatial variation of particle-size distribution(PSD)of granitic soils with soil shrinkage parameters using multifractal theory.The heterogeneity of PSD and pedogenic processes were depicted in detail by multifractal dimensions.The PSD generally increased with the increase of profile depth in accordance with the variation of single fractal dimension(D)ranging from 2.45 to 2.65.The shrinkage limit was greatly influenced by the multifractal dimension parameters,including information dimension(D1)and capacity dimension(D0)(Adjusted R2=0.998,P<0.01),and the maximum linear extensibility(κv)was determined by spectral width(?α)and bulk density,with the latter explaining 89%of the total variance ofκv(P<0.01).Soil shrinkage characteristic curve was fitted by the modified logistic model(R2>0.97,root sum of squares<0.1),and the water variation corresponding to the maximum change rate of linear extensibility was determined by the silt content(R2=0.81,P<0.01).Overall,the shrinkage of granitic soils was primarily influenced by PSD and soil compactness.

Comparative physiological and transcriptomic analyses illuminate common mechanisms by which silicon alleviates cadmium and arsenic toxicity in rice seedlings

The inessential heavy metal/loids cadmium(Cd)and arsenic(As),which often co-occur in polluted paddy soils,are toxic to rice.Silicon(Si)treatment is known to reduce Cd and As toxicity in rice plants.To better understand the shared mechanisms by which Si alleviates Cd and As stress,rice seedlings were hydroponically exposed to Cd or As,then treated with Si.The addition of Si significantly ameliorated the inhibitory effects of Cd and As on rice seedling growth.Si supplementation decreased Cd and As translocation from roots to shoots,and significantly reduced Cd-and As-induced reactive oxygen species generation in rice seedlings.Transcriptomics analyses were conducted to elucidate molecular mechanisms underlying the Si-mediated response to Cd or As stress in rice.The expression patterns of the differentially expressed genes in Cd-or As-stressed rice roots with and without Si application were compared.The transcriptomes of the Cd-and As-stressed rice roots were similarly and profoundly reshaped by Si application,suggesting that Si may play a fundamental,active role in plant defense against heavy metal/loid stresses by modulating whole genome expression.We also identified two novel genes,0s01g0524500 and 0s06g0514800,encoding a myeloblastosis(MYB)transcription factor and a thionin,respectively,which may be candidate targets for Si to alleviate Cd and As stress in rice,as well as for the generation of Cd-and/or As-resistant plants.This study provides valuable resources for further clarification of the shared molecular mechanisms underlying the Si-mediated alleviation of Cd and As toxicity in rice.

Soil microbial biomass and community responses to experimental precipitation change:A meta-analysis

The activity of soil microbes is strongly constrained by water availability.However,it is unclear how microbial activity responds to spatial and temporal changes in precipitation,particularly to long-term precipitation changes.To identify the spatiotemporal patterns of microbial responses to precipitation changes of differing durations,we conducted a meta-analysis of data from 95 field studies with drought treatments and 109 field studies with elevated precipitation treatments.Our results indicated that microbial biomass carbon(MBC)decreased by 17% under drought and increased by 18% under elevated precipitation.Across all studies,the phospholipid fatty acid(PLFA)biomarkers for fungi and bacteria decreased significantly under drought but increased under elevated precipitation.In addition,the negative effect of drought on MBC tended to be greater at sites with a high aridity index,but the effect of elevated precipitation on MBC did not differ among sites.More importantly,the responses of MBC,fungal and bacterial PLFA abundance did not vary with treatment duration under drought,but under elevated precipitation,they increased in the first five years of treatment and declined thereafter.These results are important for our prediction of microbial responses to long-term precipitation change,because they imply that microbes acclimate to long-term elevated precipitation.