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Eco-enzymatic stoichiometry and enzymatic vectors reveal differential C, N, P dynamics in decaying litter along a land-use gradient

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Abstract

To evaluate carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) dynamics during the decomposition process, we investigated the temporal variability of extracellular enzymatic activities (EEA) associated with C, N, and P acquisition in microbial communities from different land uses. We hypothesized that EEA ratios would reveal different primary resource requirements with respect to microbial demand, depending on soil properties, litter type and the relative proportion of bacteria:fungi in the microbial community. To test this hypothesis, we implemented an experiment using four litters (Triticum aestivum, Fagus sylvatica, Festuca arundinacea and Robinia pseudoacacia) in four soils (cropland, plantation, prairie and forest) located in close proximity to one another on the same parent material. Analyses of EEA showed that overall N requirement increased relative to P during litter decay, but C requirement increased more rapidly than either N or P in most of these ecosystems. Soil type was the main factor controlling N versus P requirement whereas litter type was the primary driver of C versus nutrient requirement. Shifts in EEA were related to changes in metabolic quotient (C respired per unit biomass) but there was no evidence that the relative proportion of fungi:bacteria drove changes in EEA. We concluded that the use of EEA as a proxy of microbial resource demand improved our understanding of temporal shifts in resource requirements to microbial communities, their associated respiration efficiency and dynamics of C and nutrients among different ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Sylvie Millon, Antoine Portelette, Manon Gaddi, Olivier Delfosse, Marie Sauvadet, Bruno Buatois and Jorge Lebrato Mejijas for their laboratory assistance and help harvesting microcosms. The microcosm experiment, chemical analyses and enzymatic assays were performed at the Fractionnement AgroRessource et Environnement laboratory in Reims, and the PLFA analyses were performed at the Plate-Forme d’Analyses Chimiques en Ecologie (PACE) technical facility of the Laboratoire d’Excellence, Centre Méditerranéen de l’Environnement et de la Biodiversité, in Montpellier. Financial support for this study was provided by Champagne Ardennes Region and the CARINNA Agency through the EPRC project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRA, UMR 614 FARE, 2 Esplanade Roland Garros, 51100, Reims, France

    Nicolas Fanin & Isabelle Bertrand

  2. Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901-83, Umeå, Sweden

    Nicolas Fanin

  3. Department of Environmental Science, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, 43606, USA

    Daryl Moorhead

  4. INRA, UMR 1222 Eco&Sols, 2 Place Viala, 34060, Montpellier, France

    Isabelle Bertrand

Authors
  1. Nicolas Fanin
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  2. Daryl Moorhead
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  3. Isabelle Bertrand
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Correspondence to Isabelle Bertrand.

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Responsible Editor: E. Matzner.

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Fanin, N., Moorhead, D. & Bertrand, I. Eco-enzymatic stoichiometry and enzymatic vectors reveal differential C, N, P dynamics in decaying litter along a land-use gradient. Biogeochemistry 129, 21–36 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-016-0217-5

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