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Influence of rhizosphere activity on litter decomposition in subtropical forest: implications of estimating soil organic matter contributions to soil respiration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2022

Xiaoqing Wu ,
Changjiang Huang ,
Liqing Sha  and
Chuansheng Wu
Xiaoqing Wu
Affiliation:
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Environmental Hormone and Reproduction, Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Embryo Development and Reproductive Regulation, Fuyang Normal University, Fuyang, 236037, China
Changjiang Huang
Affiliation:
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Environmental Hormone and Reproduction, Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Embryo Development and Reproductive Regulation, Fuyang Normal University, Fuyang, 236037, China
Liqing Sha
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, China Ailaoshan Station for Subtropical Forest Ecosystem Studies, Jingdong, 676209, China
Chuansheng Wu*
Affiliation:
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Environmental Hormone and Reproduction, Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Embryo Development and Reproductive Regulation, Fuyang Normal University, Fuyang, 236037, China
*
Author for correspondence: Chuansheng Wu, Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Litter decomposition plays an important role in the carbon cycle and is affected by many factors in forest ecosystems. This study aimed to quantify the rhizosphere priming effect on litter decomposition in subtropical forest southwestern China. A litter decomposition experiment including control and trenching treatments was conducted using the litter bag method, and the litter decomposition rate was calculated by litter dry mass loss. Trenching did not change soil temperature, but increased the soil water content by 14.5%. In this study, the interaction of soil temperature and soil water content controlled the litter decomposition rate, and explained 87.4 and 85.5% of the variation in litter decomposition in the control and trenching treatments, respectively. Considering changes in soil environmental factors due to trenching, the litter decomposition rates were corrected by regression models. After correction, the litter decomposition rates of the control and trenching treatments were 32.47 ± 3.15 and 25.71 ± 2.72% year–1, respectively, in the 2-year period. Rhizosphere activity significantly primed litter decomposition by 26.3%. Our study suggested a priming effect of rhizosphere activity on litter decomposition in the subtropical forest. Combining previous interaction effect results, we estimated the contributions of total soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition, total litter decomposition, and root respiration to soil respiration in the subtropical forest, and our new method of estimating the components of soil respiration provided basic theory for SOM decomposition research.

Keywords

Rhizosphere priming effectleaf litterpartitioning soil respirationSOM decompositioncontribution
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , May 2022 , pp. 151 - 157
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

†

The first and second author contributed equally to this study.

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