articleGlobal Change BiologyJan 1, 2025Closed access

Unlocking Mechanisms for Soil Organic Matter Accumulation: Carbon Use Efficiency and Microbial Necromass as the Keys

University of Alberta · Chinese Academy of Sciences · +8 more institutions

PubMed
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Abstract

ABSTRACT Soil microorganisms transform plant‐derived C (carbon) into particulate organic C (POC) and mineral‐associated C (MAOC) pools. While microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) is widely recognized in current biogeochemical models as a key predictor of soil organic carbon (SOC) storage, large‐scale empirical evidence is limited. In this study, we proposed and experimentally tested two predictors of POC and MAOC pool formation: microbial necromass (using amino sugars as a proxy) and CUE (by 18 O‐H 2 O approach). Soil sampling (0–10 and 10–20 cm depth) was conducted along a climatic transect of 900 km on the Loess Plateau, including cropland, grassland, shrubland, and forest ecosystems, to ensure the…

Citation impact

121
total citations
FWCI
107.25
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100%
References
97
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Authors

10

Topics & keywords

Keywords
  • Environmental science
  • Soil carbon
  • Organic matter
  • Soil organic matter
  • Carbon cycle
  • Carbon fibers
  • Ecology
  • Environmental chemistry
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