Hostname: page-component-6587cd75c8-r56mn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-24T02:20:27.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Complexity of Soil Organic Matter: AMS 14C Analysis of Soil Lipid Fractions and Individual Compounds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Janet Rethemeyer ,
Christiane Kramer ,
Gerd Gleixner ,
Guido L B Wiesenberg ,
Lorenz Schwark ,
Nils Andersen ,
Marie-J Nadeau  and
Pieter M Grootes
Janet Rethemeyer*
Affiliation:
Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research, University of Kiel, Germany.
Christiane Kramer
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.
Gerd Gleixner
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.
Guido L B Wiesenberg
Affiliation:
Geological Institute, University of Cologne, Germany.
Lorenz Schwark
Affiliation:
Geological Institute, University of Cologne, Germany.
Nils Andersen
Affiliation:
Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research, University of Kiel, Germany.
Marie-J Nadeau
Affiliation:
Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research, University of Kiel, Germany.
Pieter M Grootes
Affiliation:
Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research, University of Kiel, Germany.
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Radiocarbon measurements of different lipid fractions and individual compounds, isolated from soil samples collected on 2 different agricultural long-term study sites, located in the rural area of Rotthalmünster (Germany) and in the city of Halle/Saale (Germany), were analyzed to obtain information about sources and the stability of soil organic matter (SOM). Different lipid compound classes were isolated by automated solvent extraction and subsequent medium-pressure liquid chromatography. Generally, 14C contents of lipid compound classes from topsoil samples of maize plots at Rotthalmünster are close to the modern atmospheric 14C content. Lower 14C values of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons isolated from neutral lipids suggest a contribution of old carbon to these fractions. In contrast, 14C values of bulk soil (52 pMC) as well as isolated lipid classes from Halle are highly depleted. This can be attributed to a significant contribution of fossil carbon at this site. Extremely low 14C contents of aromatic (7 pMC) and aliphatic hydrocarbons (19 pMC) reflect the admixture of fossil hydrocarbons at the Halle site. Individual phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA), which are used as a proxy for viable microbial biomass, were isolated by preparative capillary gas chromatography (PCGC) from topsoils at Rotthalmünster and Halle. PLFA 14C values are close to atmospheric 14C values and, thus, indicate a clear microbial preference for relatively young SOM. At Rotthalmünster, the 14C concentration of short-chain unsaturated PLFAs is not significantly different from that of the atmosphere, while the saturated PLFAs show a contribution of sub-recent SOM extending over the last decades. At Halle, up to 14% fossil carbon is incorporated in PLFAs n-C17:0 and cy-C18:0, which suggests the use of fossil carbon by soil microorganisms. Moreover, it can be concluded that the 14C age of soil carbon is not indicative of its stability.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 46 , Issue 1: Proceedings of the 18th International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 1 of 2), Conference Editors: Nancy Beavan Athfield, Rodger J Sparks , 2004 , pp. 465 - 473
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Balesdent, J. 1987. The turnover of soil organic fractions estimated by radiocarbon dating. The Science of the Total Environment 62:405–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bol, R, Huang, Y, Merdith, JA, Eglinton, TI, Harkness, DD, Ineson, P. 1996. The 14C age and residence time of organic matter and its lipid constituents in a stagnohumic gley soil. European Journal of Soil Science 47: 215–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eglinton, TI, Aluwihare, LI, Bauer, JE, Druffel, ERM, McNichol, AP. 1996. Gas chromatographic isolation of individual compounds from complex matrices for radiocarbon dating. Analytical Chemistry 68:904–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eglinton, TI, Benitez-Nelson, BC, Pearson, A, McNichol, AP, Bauer, JE, Druffel, ERM. 1997. Variability in radiocarbon ages of individual organic compounds from marine sediments. Science 277:796–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falloon, P, Smith, P, Coleman, K, Marshall, S. 1998. Estimating the size of inert organic matter pool for use in the Rothamsted Carbon Model. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 30:1207–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FAO-ISRIC. 1990. Guidelines for Soil Description , 3rd edition. Rome: Food and Agricultural Organization.Google Scholar
Frostegård, Å, Bååth, E. 1996. The use of phospholipid fatty acid analysis to estimate bacterial and fugal biomass in soil. Biology and Fertility of Soils 22:59–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregorich, EG, Monreal, CM, Schnitzer, M, Schulten, HR. 1996. Transformation of plant residues into soil or ganic matter: chemical characterization of plant tis sues, isolated soil fractions, and whole soil. Soil Science 161:680–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedges, JI. 1991. Lignin, cutin, amino acid and carbohydrate analysis of marine particulate organic matter. In: Hurd, DC, Spencer, DW, editors. Marine Particles: Analysis and Characterization. Geophysical Monograph 63. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union. p 129–37.Google Scholar
Lichtfouse, E, Elbisser, B, Balesdent, J, Mariotti, A, Bardoux, G. 1994. Isotope and molecular evidence for direct input of maize leaf wax n-alkanes into crop soil. Organic Geochemistry 22:349–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lichtfouse, E, Bardoux, G, Mariotti, A, Balesdent, J, Ballentine, DC, Mackod, SA. 1997. Molecular, 13C, and 14C evidence for the allochthonous and ancient origin of C16–C18 n-alkanes in modern soils. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 61:1891–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merbach, W, Schmidt, L, Wittemayer, L, editors. 1999. Die Dauerdüngungsversuche in Halle (Saale). Stuttgart/Leipzip: Teubner. 150 p.Google Scholar
Nadeau, MJ, Schleicher, M, Grootes, PM, Erlenkeuser, H, Gottdang, A, Mous, DJW, Sarnthein, JM, Willkomm, H. 1997. The Leibniz-Labor AMS facility at the Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 123: 22–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadeau, MJ, Grootes, PM, Schleicher, M, Hasselberg, P, Rieck, A, Bitterling, M. 1998. Sample throughput and data quality at the Leibniz-Labor AMS facility. Radiocarbon 40(1):239–45.Google Scholar
O'Brien, BJ. 1986. The use of natural and anthropogenic 14C to investigate the dynamics of soil organic carbon. Radiocarbon 28(2A):358–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petsch, ST, Eglinton, TI, Edwards, KJ. 2001. 14C-dead living biomass: evidence for microbial assimilation of ancient organic carbon during shale weathering. Science 292:1127–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Radke, M, Willsch, H, Welte, DH. 1980. Preparative hydrocarbon group type determination by automated medium pressure liquid chromatography. Analytical Chemistry 52:406–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rethemeyer, J, Bruhn, F, Kramer, C, Gleixner, G, Andersen, N, Nadeau, MJ, Grootes, PM. Forthcoming. Age heterogeneity of soil organic matter. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B. Google Scholar
Rumpel, C, Balesdent, J, Grootes, PM, Weber, E, Kögel-Knabner, I. 2003. Quantification of lignite- and vegetation-derived soil carbon using 14C activity measurements in a forested chronosequence. Geoderma 112: 155–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scharpenseel, HW, Becker-Heidmann, P. 1992. Twenty-five years of radiocarbon dating soils: paradigm of erring and learning. Radiocarbon 34(3):541–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Polach, HA. 1977. Discussion: reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 22(1):1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trumbore, SE, Bonani, G, Wölfli, W. 1990. The rates of carbon cycling in several soils from AMS 14C measurements of fractionated soil organic matter. In: Bouwman, AF, editor. Soils and the Greenhouse Effect. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p 407–14.Google Scholar
Trumbore, SE. 1993. Comparison of carbon dynamics in tropical and temperate soils using radiocarbon measurement. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 7(2):275–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trumbore, SE. 1996. Applications of accelerator mass spectrometry to soil science. In: Boutton, TW, Yamasaki, S, editors. Mass Spectrometry of Soils. New York: Marcel Dekker. p 311–40.Google Scholar
Trumbore, SE, Zheng, S. 1996. Comparison of fractionation methods for soil organic matter 14C analysis. Radiocarbon 38(2):219–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uchida, M, Shibata, Y, Kawamura, K, Yoneda, M, Mukai, H, Tanaka, A, Uehiro, T, Morita, M. 2000. Isolation of individual fatty acids in sediments using preparative capillary gas chromatography (PCGC) for radiocarbon analysis at NIES-TERRA. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 172:583–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Bergen, PF, Bull, ID, Poulton, PR, Evershed, RP. 1997. Organic geochemical studies of soil from the Rothamsted Classical Experiments—I. Total lipid extracts, solvent insoluble residues and humic acids from Broadbalk Wilderness. Organic Geochemistry 26: 117–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiesenberg, GLB, Schwark, L, Schmidt, MWI. Forthcoming (a). Improved automated extraction and separation procedure for soil lipid analyses. European Journal of Soil Science. Google Scholar
Wiesenberg, GLB, Schwarzbauer, J, Schmidt, MWI, Schwark, L. Forthcoming (b). Sources and turnover of soil organic matter derived from n-alkane/n-carboxylic acid compositions and C-isotope signature. Organic Geochemistry. Google Scholar
Willsch, H, Clegg, H, Horsfield, B, Radke, M, Wilkes, H. 1997. Liquid chromatographic separation of sediment, rock, and coal extracts and crude oil into compound classes. Analytical Chemistry 69:4203–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, DC, David, WM, Nickels, JS, King, JD, Bobbie, RJ. 1979. Determination of the sedimentary microbial biomass by extractable lipid phosphate. Oecologia 40: 51–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zelles, L, Bai, QY. 1993. Fractionation of fatty acid derived from soil lipids by solid phase extraction and their quantitative analysis by GC-MS. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 25:495–507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zelles, L. 1999. Fatty acid patterns of phospholipids and lipopolysaccharides in the characterization of microbial communities in soil: a review. Biology and Fertility of Soils 29:111–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar