articleNature CommunicationsApr 7, 2015GOLD OA

Plant diversity increases soil microbial activity and soil carbon storage

MLMarkus LangeNENico EisenhauerCACarlos A. SierraHBHolger BeßlerCEChristoph Engels

Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry · German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research · +7 more institutions

PubMed
Indexed incrossrefdoajpubmed

Abstract

Plant diversity strongly influences ecosystem functions and services, such as soil carbon storage. However, the mechanisms underlying the positive plant diversity effects on soil carbon storage are poorly understood. We explored this relationship using long-term data from a grassland biodiversity experiment (The Jena Experiment) and radiocarbon (14C) modelling. Here we show that higher plant diversity increases rhizosphere carbon inputs into the microbial community resulting in both increased microbial activity and carbon storage. Increases in soil carbon were related to the enhanced accumulation of recently fixed carbon in high-diversity plots, while plant diversity had less pronounced effects on the…

Citation impact

1,681
total citations
FWCI
77.71
Percentile
100%
References
70
Citations per year

Authors

14

Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Soil carbon
  • Carbon fibers
  • Diversity (politics)
  • Environmental science
  • Soil microbiology
  • Soil water
  • Agronomy
  • Soil science
UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • Life in Land
No related works found for this paper.

Funding