Abstract
Labile C input to the soil can cause the priming effect (PE) that in turn changes the soil organic C (SOC) content. However, little information is available to predict the magnitude of the PE in different soils, especially under concurrent changes in nutrient inputs. We took advantage of a natural gradient in labile C input in the surroundings of wood ant nests in a temperate coniferous forest which arises through the long-term effects of wood ant foraging on the inputs of honeydew to soil. We collected soils from the surface mineral horizon (high-SOC content) (A horizon) and the subsoil mineral horizon (low-SOC content) (B horizon) at 4 m (low labile C input and higher SOC content) and 70 m (high labile C input and lower SOC content) from four nests. In a 6-month laboratory microcosm experiment, we monitored microbial activity and PE as affected by no nutrient addition (control) or fortnightly additions of labile C alone or in combination with N and/or P (C, CN, CP, CNP). Microbial activity and PE after C addition increased more at 70 m than at 4 m in the B horizon, that is, were higher with a lower SOC content. However, microbial activity and PE in the B horizon were not affected by additions of N and/or P with C. In the A horizon, microbial activity and PE were lower after combined CN addition but increased by combined CP addition relative to C addition alone. In conclusion, labile C inputs had a larger effect on decomposition and PE in low-SOC than high-SOC soils, whereas N and P inputs had greater effects in high-SOC soils than in low-SOC soils. This suggests that low-SOC soils such as those subjected to a high long-term labile C input or those from the subsoil mineral horizon might be more susceptible to increase microbial activity in relation to changes in labile C inputs but less susceptible in relation to changes in N and P inputs relative to high-SOC soils.
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Acknowledgements
Some of the equipment used for this study was purchased from the Operational Programme Prague - Competitiveness (grant number CZ.2.16/3.1.00/21516). Institutional funding for K. J. was provided by the Center for Geosphere Dynamics (grant number UNCE/SCI/006). The authors thank Pavlína Stuchlá and Josef Starý for help with field sampling, Jiří Petrásek and Jiřina Jurdáková for laboratory analyses, and Bruce Jaffee for improving the English of an earlier revision of the manuscript.
Funding
This study was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (grant number 17-08717S) and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic - MEYS (grant numbers LM2015075, EF16_013/0001782).
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Jílková, V., Jandová, K. & Kukla, J. Responses of microbial activity to carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus additions in forest mineral soils differing in organic carbon content. Biol Fertil Soils 57, 513–521 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-021-01545-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-021-01545-5