Harvard Forest

Data Archive

HF372

Effects of Soil Warming and Substrate Complexity on Microbial Carbon Use Efficiency at Harvard Forest 2017

Related Publications

Data

• hf372-01: bulk soil carbon and nitrogen (preview)
• hf372-02: aggregate soil carbon and nitrogen (preview)
• hf372-03: particle fraction of soil carbon and nitrogen (preview)
• hf372-04: density fraction of soil carbon and nitrogen (preview)
• hf372-05: microbial activity (preview)
• hf372-06: temperature sensitivity of microbial activity (preview)
• hf372-07: soil enzyme activity (preview)

Overview

• Lead: Xiao-Jun Liu, Kristen DeAngelis
• Investigators: Serita Frey, Jerry Melillo
• Contact: Information Manager
• Start date: 2017
• End date: 2017
• Status: complete
• Location: Harvard Forest
• Latitude: +42.54 degrees
• Longitude: -72.18 degrees
• Elevation: 365 meter
• Datum: WGS84
• Taxa:
• Release date: 2023
• Language: English
• EML file: knb-lter-hfr.372.2
• DOI: digital object identifier
• EDI: data package
• DataONE: data package
• Related links:
• Study type: long-term measurement
• Research topic: large experiments and permanent plot studies; soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics
• LTER core area: organic matter movement
• Keywords: carbohydrates, carbon, cellulose, climate change, decomposition, microbes, soil warming
• Abstract:

  Soil microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) is a combination of growth and respiration, which may respond differently to climate change depending on physical protection of soil carbon (C) and its availability to microbes. In a mid-latitude hardwood forest in central Massachusetts, 27 years of soil warming (+5 ◦C) has resulted in C loss and altered soil organic matter (SOM) quality, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we hypothesized that long-term warming reduces physical aggregate protection of SOM, microbial CUE, and its temperature sensitivity. Soil was separated into macroaggregate (250–2000 μm) and microaggregate (less than 250 μm) fractions, and CUE was measured with 18O-enriched water in samples incubated at 15 and 25 ◦C for 24 h. We found that long-term warming reduced soil C and nitrogen concentrations and extracellular enzyme activity in macroaggregates, but did not affect physical protection of SOM. Long-term warming showed little effect on CUE or microbial biomass turnover time because it reduced both growth and respiration. However, CUE was less temperature sensitive in macroaggregates from the warmed compared to the control plots. Our findings suggest that microbial thermal responses to long-term warming occur mostly in soil compartments where SOM is less physically protected and thus more vulnerable to microbial degradation.

• Methods:

  Soil samples were collected in October 2017 from the Soil Warming Study at the Harvard Forest. Soil was separated into macroaggregate (250–2000 μm) and microaggregate (less than 250 μm) fractions, and CUE was measured with 18O enriched water (H2 18O) in samples incubated at 15 and 25 ◦C for 24 h.

• Organization: Harvard Forest. 324 North Main Street, Petersham, MA 01366, USA. Phone (978) 724-3302. Fax (978) 724-3595.

• Project: The Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program examines ecological dynamics in the New England region resulting from natural disturbances, environmental change, and human impacts. (ROR).

• Funding: National Science Foundation LTER grants: DEB-8811764, DEB-9411975, DEB-0080592, DEB-0620443, DEB-1237491, DEB-1832210.

• Use: This dataset is released to the public under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (No Rights Reserved). Please keep the dataset creators informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset should include proper acknowledgement.

• License: Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal (CC0-1.0)

• Citation: Liu X, DeAngelis K. 2023. Effects of Soil Warming and Substrate Complexity on Microbial Carbon Use Efficiency at Harvard Forest 2017. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF372 (v.2). Environmental Data Initiative: https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/d02d75b1e4d8420be58e23edbab0926a.

Detailed Metadata

hf372-01: bulk soil carbon and nitrogen

1. plot.id: identification number of field plot
2. trt: warming treatment
   • Control: ambient
   • Heated: +5 °C
3. rep: field replicate (plot)
4. mbc: microbial biomass carbon (µg g-1), measured by CFE (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
5. doc: dissolved organic carbon (µg g-1), extracted by 0.5 M K2SO4 (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
6. soc: soil organic carbon (%), measured by elemental analyzer (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
7. tsn: soil nitrogen (%), measured by elemental analyzer (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
8. mbcsoc: ratio of mbc and soc (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
9. mbcdoc: ratio of mbc and doc (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
10. docsoc: ratio of doc and soc (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
11. scn: ratio of soc and tsn (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)

hf372-02: aggregate soil carbon and nitrogen

1. plot.id: identification number of field plot
2. trt: warming treatment
   • Control: ambient
   • Heated: +5 °C
3. agg: soil aggregate size
   • MA: 250-2000 µm
   • MI: less than 250 µm
4. rep: field replicate (plot)
5. mbc: microbial biomass carbon (µg g-1), measured by CFE (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
6. doc: dissolved organic carbon (µg g-1), extracted by 0.5 M K2SO4 (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
7. soc: soil organic carbon (%), measured by elemental analyzer (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
8. tsn: soil nitrogen (%), measured by elemental analyzer (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
9. mbcsoc: ratio of mbc and soc (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
10. mbcdoc: ratio of mbc and doc (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
11. docsoc: ratio of doc and soc (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
12. scn: ratio of soc and tsn (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
13. soilmass: soil mass of MA and MI (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
14. soil_pct: percent of soil mass between MA and MI (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
15. cstk_pct: percent of soil carbon stock (by multiplying soc and soil mass) between MA and MI (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
16. nstk_pct: percent of tsn stock (by multiplying tsn and soil mass) between MA and MI (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)

hf372-03: particle fraction of soil carbon and nitrogen

1. plot.id: identification number of field plot
2. trt: warming treatment
   • Control: ambient
   • Heated: +5 °C
3. agg: soil aggregate size
   • MA: 250-2000 µm
   • MI: less than 250 µm
4. size: particle size
   • 250-2000: 250-2000 µm
   • 53-250: 53-250 µm
   • Silt/clay: silt/clay (less than 53 µm)
5. rep: field replicate (plot)
6. soilmass: soil mass of different particle sizes (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
7. totalmass: total soil mass across particle sizes within one rep (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
8. soil_pct: percent of soil mass of different particle sizes (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)

hf372-04: density fraction of soil carbon and nitrogen

1. plot.id: identification number of field plot
2. trt: warming treatment
   • Control: ambient
   • Heated: +5 °C
3. agg: soil aggregate size
   • MA: 250-2000 µm
   • MI: less than 250 µm
4. size: soil density fractions
   • cPOM: coarse particulate organic matter
   • fPOM: free particulate organic matter
   • MAOM: mineral associated organic matter
   • oPOM: occluded particulate organic matter
5. rep: field replicate (plot)
6. soc: soil organic carbon (%), measured by elemental analyzer (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
7. tsn: soil nitrogen (%), measured by elemental analyzer (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
8. soilmass: soil mass (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
9. soil_pct: percent of soil mass among density fractions (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
10. cstk_pct: percent of soil carbon stock (by multiplying soc and soil mass) between MA and MI (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
11. nstk_pct: percent of tsn stock (by multiplying tsn and soil mass) between MA and MI (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)

hf372-05: microbial activity

1. plot.id: identification number of field plot
2. trt: warming treatment
   • Control: ambient
   • Heated: +5 °C
3. agg: soil aggregate size
   • MA: 250-2000 µm
   • MI: less than 250 µm
4. temp: incubation temperature (unit: celsius / missing value: NA)
5. sub: substrate
6. rep: field replicate (plot)
7. resp: microbial respiration (µg CO2-C g-1 soil) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
8. growth: microbial growth (µg C g-1 soil) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
9. uptake: microbial organic carbon uptake (µg C g-1 soil) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
10. cue: microbial carbon use efficiency (%) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
11. to1: microbial turnover rate (per day) (unit: number / missing value: NA)
12. to2: turnover time (days) (unit: number / missing value: NA)
13. mbc: microbial biomass carbon (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
14. dna: soil DNA content (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
15. mbcdna: ratio of mbc and dna (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
16. mresp: mass-specific respiration (µg CO2-C g-1 mbc) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
17. mgrowth: mass-specific growth (µg C g-1 mbc) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
18. muptake: mass-specific uptake (µg C g-1 mbc) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
19. dresp: mass-specific respiration (µg CO2-C g-1 dna) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
20. dgrowth: mass-specific growth (µg C g-1 dna) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
21. duptake: mass-specific uptake (µg C g-1 dna) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)

hf372-06: temperature sensitivity of microbial activity

1. plot.id: identification number of field plot
2. trt: warming treatment
   • Control: ambient
   • Heated: +5 °C
3. agg: soil aggregate size
   • MA: 250-2000 µm
   • MI: less than 250 µm
4. sub: substrate
5. rep: field replicate (plot)
6. resp: microbial respiration (µg CO2-C g-1 soil) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
7. growth: microbial growth (µg C g-1 soil) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
8. uptake: microbial organic carbon uptake (µg C g-1 soil) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
9. cue: microbial carbon use efficiency (%) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
10. turnover: microbial turnover rate (per day) (unit: number / missing value: NA)
11. mbc: microbial biomass carbon (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
12. dna: soil DNA content (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
13. mbcdna: ratio of mbc and dna (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
14. mresp: mass-specific respiration (µg CO2-C g-1 mbc) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
15. mgrowth: mass-specific growth (µg C g-1 mbc) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
16. muptake: mass-specific uptake (µg C g-1 mbc) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
17. dresp: mass-specific respiration (µg CO2-C g-1 dna) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
18. dgrowth: mass-specific growth (µg C g-1 dna) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)
19. duptake: mass-specific uptake (µg C g-1 dna) (unit: microgramsPerGram / missing value: NA)

hf372-07: soil enzyme activity

1. plot.id: identification number of field plot
2. trt: warming treatment
   • Control: ambient
   • Heated: +5 °C
3. agg: soil aggregate size
   • MA: 250-2000 µm
   • MI: less than 250 µm
4. rep: field replicate (plot)
5. ap: acid phosphatase (nmol g-1 soil h-1) (unit: nanomolePerGramPerHour / missing value: NA)
6. bg: β-glucosidase (nmol g-1 soil h-1) (unit: nanomolePerGramPerHour / missing value: NA)
7. cbh: cellobiohydrolase (nmol g-1 soil h-1) (unit: nanomolePerGramPerHour / missing value: NA)
8. nag: N-acetyl-glucosaminidase (nmol g-1 soil h-1) (unit: nanomolePerGramPerHour / missing value: NA)
9. per: polyphenol oxidase (nmol g-1 soil h-1) (unit: nanomolePerGramPerHour / missing value: NA)
10. pox: peroxidase (nmol g-1 soil h-1) (unit: nanomolePerGramPerHour / missing value: NA)
11. apmbc: acid phosphatase (nmol g-1 mbc h-1) (unit: nanomolePerGramPerHour / missing value: NA)
12. bgmbc: β-glucosidase (nmol g-1 mbc h-1) (unit: nanomolePerGramPerHour / missing value: NA)
13. cbhmbc: cellobiohydrolase (nmol g-1 mbc h-1) (unit: nanomolePerGramPerHour / missing value: NA)
14. nagmbc: N-acetyl-glucosaminidase (nmol g-1 mbc h-1) (unit: nanomolePerGramPerHour / missing value: NA)
15. permbc: polyphenol oxidase (nmol g-1 mbc h-1) (unit: nanomolePerGramPerHour / missing value: NA)
16. poxmbc: peroxidase (nmol g-1 mbc h-1) (unit: nanomolePerGramPerHour / missing value: NA)