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Variations in microbial isotopic fractionation during soil organic matter decomposition

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Abstract

The soil microbial biomass (SMB) is known to participate in key soil processes such as the decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM). However, its contribution to the isotopic composition of the SOM is not clear yet. Shifts in the 13C and 15N natural abundances of the SMB and SOM fractions (mineralised, water soluble and non-extractable) were investigated by incubating an unamended arable soil for 6 months. Microbial communities were also studied using Fatty Acid Methyl Ester specific isotope analysis. The SMB was significantly 13C and 15N-enriched relative to other fractions throughout the incubation. However, significant isotopic variations with time were also observed due to the rapid consumption of relatively 13C-enriched water soluble compounds. The increase in the difference in SMB and water soluble 15N compositions as the water soluble C/N ratio decreased, indicated a shift from N assimilation to N dissimilation during the incubation. These changes also induced modifications of the microbial community structure. Once the system reached a steady-state (after 1 month), the isotopic trends appeared to corroborate those obtained in long term experiments in the field in that there was a constant microbial isotopic fractionation leading to a 13C and 15N enrichment of the SOM over the long-term. This work also suggests that caution must be exercised when interpreting short term incubation studies since perturbations associated with experimental set-up can have an important effect on C and N dynamics, microbial fractionation of 13C and 15N and microbial community structure.

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Acknowledgements

G. Bardoux and N. Péchot are acknowledged for expert isotopic technical assistance as is J.N. Rampon for inorganic nitrogen analysis. The authors would also like to thank A. Herrmann, J. Wynn and one anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments on the manuscript.

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Appendix

Appendix

The use of FAME rather than PLFA may alter the resolution of the microbial community snapshot. FAME include lipids from sources other than live microbial biomass such as dead microbial biomass (Drenovsky et al. 2004) and their half-lives are greater than both PLFA and total biomass (Kindler et al. 2006, 2009). Here, the total amount of FAME changed significantly with time (P < 0.001), reaching a maximum of 177 ± 24 nmoles g−1 soil on the 8th day of incubation and a minimum of 136 ± 10 nmoles g−1 soil after 6 months. Figure 8a. shows the relationship between the total amount of FAME and the amount of microbial biomass estimated by fumigation-extraction (expressed in C equivalent: CSMB and C∑FAME). A good linear correlation was found with C∑FAME = 0.15 × CSMBs + 4.78 (n = 30, r 2 = 0.85, P < 0.001). The intercept was not significantly different from zero. A good linear correlation was also found between the 13C composition of the microbial biomass and the overall 13C composition of FAME (Fig. 8b): δ13C∑FAME = 0.95 × δ13CSMB −3.11 (n = 30, r 2 = 0.67, P < 0.001). The intercept was not significantly different from zero. This was corroborated by the lack of significant difference in the ∆13C∑FAME/SMB throughout the incubation (Table 1). The strong correlations between the total amount of FAME and the microbial biomass measured by fumigation extraction and between the 13C composition of the SMB and the overall composition of the FAME demonstrated the pertinence of the FAME approach for studying changes in soil microbial community structure.

Fig. 8
figure 8

Relationship between the amount of FAME and the Soil Microbial Biomass expressed in μgC g−1 soil (a) and between the overall δ13C value of FAME (δ13C∑FAME) and the δ13C value of soil microbial biomass (δ13CSMB) (b). The dark line represents the linear regression and the dotted lines represent the 99% confidence intervals

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Lerch, T.Z., Nunan, N., Dignac, MF. et al. Variations in microbial isotopic fractionation during soil organic matter decomposition. Biogeochemistry 106, 5–21 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-010-9432-7

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