Root-derived inputs are major contributors to soil carbon in temperate forests, but vary by mycorrhizal type.

Roots promote the formation of slow-cycling soil carbon (C), yet we have a limited understanding of the magnitude and controls on this flux. We hypothesised arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM)- and ectomycorrhizal (ECM)-associated trees would exhibit differences in root-derived C accumulation in the soil, and that much of this C would be transferred into mineral-associated pools. We installed δ13 C-enriched ingrowth cores across mycorrhizal gradients in six Eastern U.S. forests (n = 54 plots). Overall, root-derived C was 54% greater in AM versus ECM-dominated plots. This resulted in nearly twice as much root-derived C in putatively slow-cycling mineral-associated pools in AM compared to ECM plots. Given that our estimates of root-derived inputs were often equal to or greater than leaf litter inputs, our results suggest that variation in root-derived soil C accumulation due to tree mycorrhizal dominance may be a key control of soil C dynamics in forests.

• Publication year

  2021

• Venue

  Ecology Letters

• Publication date

  2021-01-25

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1111/ele.13651PMID 33492775
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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