Variable effects of nitrogen additions on the stability and turnover of soil carbon

ABSTRACT Soils contain the largest near-surface reservoir of terrestrial carbon1 and so knowledge of the factors controlling soil carbon storage and turnover is essential for understanding

the changing global carbon cycle. The influence of climate on decomposition of soil carbon has been well documented2,3, but there remains considerable uncertainty in the potential response

of soil carbon dynamics to the rapid global increase in reactive nitrogen (coming largely from agricultural fertilizers and fossil fuel combustion). Here, using 14C, 13C and

compound-specific analyses of soil carbon from long-term nitrogen fertilization plots, we show that nitrogen additions significantly accelerate decomposition of light soil carbon fractions

(with decadal turnover times) while further stabilizing soil carbon compounds in heavier, mineral-associated fractions (with multidecadal to century lifetimes). Despite these changes in the

dynamics of different soil pools, we observed no significant changes in bulk soil carbon, highlighting a limitation inherent to the still widely used single-pool approach to investigating

soil carbon responses to changing environmental conditions. It remains to be seen if the effects observed here—caused by relatively high, short-term fertilizer additions—are similar to those

arising from lower, long-term additions of nitrogen to natural ecosystems from atmospheric deposition, but our results suggest nonetheless that current models of terrestrial carbon cycling

do not contain the mechanisms needed to capture the complex relationship between nitrogen availability and soil carbon storage. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a

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TRAJECTORIES SHAPED BY PLANT–MICROBE INTERACTIONS Article 03 October 2024 GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION AND DRIVERS OF RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS AMONG SOIL NITROGEN SOURCES TO TERRESTRIAL PLANTS Article

Open access 30 July 2024 TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF SOIL CARBON EMISSION IN TROPICAL FORESTS UNDER LONG-TERM NITROGEN DEPOSITION Article 01 December 2022 REFERENCES * Post, W. M., Emanuel, W. R.,

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Article  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank D. Schimel, S. Hobbie, J. Harden, T. Seastedt and C. Cleveland for comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.

This work was supported by the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the NSF-LTER program, the US Geological Survey and the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry. AUTHOR INFORMATION Author notes *

Jason C. Neff, Alan R. Townsend and Gerd Gleixner: These authors contributed equally to this work AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Earth Surface Processes Team, Geologic Division, US Geological

Survey, MS 980, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado, 80225, USA Jason C. Neff * Environmental, Population and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado,

80309, USA Alan R. Townsend & William D. Bowman * Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, 80309, USA Alan R. Townsend, Scott J.

Lehman & Jocelyn Turnbull * Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany Gerd Gleixner Authors * Jason C. Neff View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * Alan R. Townsend View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Gerd Gleixner View author publications You can also search

for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Scott J. Lehman View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Jocelyn Turnbull View author publications You

can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * William D. Bowman View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR

Correspondence to Jason C. Neff. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION: RADIODCARBON DATA FOR NIWOT RIDGE SAMPLES (DOC 50 KB) RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Neff, J., Townsend, A., Gleixner, G.

_et al._ Variable effects of nitrogen additions on the stability and turnover of soil carbon. _Nature_ 419, 915–917 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01136 Download citation * Received:

29 April 2002 * Accepted: 12 September 2002 * Issue Date: 31 October 2002 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01136 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able

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