Articles | Volume 8, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8-253-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8-253-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Original research article
| 
01 Apr 2022
Original research article |
| 01 Apr 2022
| 01 Apr 2022
Land use impact on carbon mineralization in well aerated soils is mainly explained by variations of particulate organic matter rather than of soil structure
Steffen Schlüter
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Soil System Sciences, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental
Research – UFZ, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
Tim Roussety
Department of Soil System Sciences, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental
Research – UFZ, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
Lena Rohe
Department of Soil System Sciences, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental
Research – UFZ, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
Vusal Guliyev
Department of Soil Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
– UFZ, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
Evgenia Blagodatskaya
Department of Soil Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
– UFZ, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
Thomas Reitz
Department of Soil System Sciences, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental
Research – UFZ, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
Department of Soil Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
– UFZ, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
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Short summary
We combined microstructure analysis via X-ray CT with carbon mineralization analysis via respirometry of intact soil cores from different land uses. We found that the amount of particulate organic matter (POM) exerted a dominant control on carbon mineralization in well-aerated topsoils, whereas soil moisture and macroporosity did not play role. This is because carbon mineralization mainly occurs in microbial hotspots around degrading POM, where it is decoupled from conditions of the bulk soil.
We combined microstructure analysis via X-ray CT with carbon mineralization analysis via...
