articleNature CommunicationsOct 19, 2023GOLD OA

Calcium promotes persistent soil organic matter by altering microbial transformation of plant litter

Cornell University · Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station · +4 more institutions

PubMed
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Abstract

Abstract Calcium (Ca) can contribute to soil organic carbon (SOC) persistence by mediating physico-chemical interactions between organic compounds and minerals. Yet, Ca is also crucial for microbial adhesion, potentially affecting colonization of plant and mineral surfaces. The importance of Ca as a mediator of microbe-mineral-organic matter interactions and resulting SOC transformation has been largely overlooked. We incubated 44 Ca labeled soils with 13 C 15 N labeled leaf litter to study how Ca affects microbial transformation of litter and formation of mineral associated organic matter. Here we show that Ca additions promote hyphae-forming bacteria, which often specialize in colonizing surfaces, and…

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