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Cited by 15Soil Carbon and Nitrogen DynamicsSoil Geostatistics and MappingSoil erosion and sediment transport

Carbon content of soil fractions varies with season, rainfall, and soil fertility across a lowland tropical moist forest gradient

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Dietterich, Lee H., Karpman, Jason, Neupane, Avishesh, Ciochina, Mark, Cusack, Daniela F.·2021·Biogeochemistry
DOI 10.1007/s10533-021-00836-1
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Abstract

Tropical forests contain some of the largest soil carbon (C) stocks on Earth, making them broadly relevant to terrestrial-climate feedbacks, yet our understanding of how their soil organic C (SOC) fractions vary over space and time is limited. We studied effects of season, fertility, and mean annual precipitation (MAP) on the C contents of soil fractions across 14 lowland forests in Panama. We measured free-debris, occluded-debris, and mineral-associated SOC fractions, as well as soluble C associated with each fraction. We hypothesized that mineral-associated SOC would be greatest in infertile, strongly weathered soils with large reactive mineral contents. We also hypothesized that the debris SOC fractions would accumulate during the dry season, reflecting seasonal increases in litterfall. To address this, we compared soil fractions in wet and dry seasons from fertile and infertile soils across a range of 1809–2864 mm MAP. The C content (mg C/g soil) of all soil fractions varied with fertility and MAP: specifically, free-debris SOC was greatest in wet, high-fertility soils, and occluded-debris SOC was greater in high-fertility than low-fertility soils. The mineral-associated SOC fraction, which contained the majority of bulk soil C, showed increasing C content with greater MAP in infertile sites, presumably driving similar spatial patterns in the bulk soil. Only the free-debris SOC fraction showed strong seasonal variation, increasing in mass during the dry season. Nitrogen behaved similarly to C. In summary, soil C contents increased with MAP in infertile sites but not fertile sites, driven by the mineral-associated SOC fraction. The dry season had greater free-debris SOC, but this seasonal trend was not apparent in bulk soil C, likely because of the small size of the free-debris SOC fraction. Thus, changes in the quantity and seasonality of precipitation, which are projected for tropical forests, might shift spatial and temporal patterns of soil C storage, which would in turn influence forest-climate feedbacks for this C-rich biome.

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  • Even in tropical soils, MAOM-C seasonal variation (~10%) is notably less than the variation observed in this study over time (~30%).

    “However, even in tropical soils, MAOM-C seasonal variation ( ∼ 10%; Dietterich et al., 2021) is notably less than the variation observed in this study over time ( ∼ 30%).”

    From Early production of switchgrass ( <i>Panicum virgatum</i> L.) and willow ( <i>Salix</i> spp.) indicates carbon accumulation potential in Appalachian reclaimed mine and agriculture soil (2024) · cites this paper as Dietterich et al., 2021

    The 'Spatial patterns in mineral-associated SOC' section (page unavailable) reports slightly greater mineral-associated SOC carbon content in the wet season than in the dry season, supporting the claim of modest seasonal variation in the tropical soils studied. The passages do not quantify that variation as approximately 10%. The approximately 30% figure describes the citing authors’ own study and is not attributed to Dietterich et al. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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Cited by

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Authors
Dietterich, L. H., Karpman, J., Neupane, A., Ciochina, M., & Cusack, D. F.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Los Angeles (US)
  • Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (PA)
Corresponding author
Dietterich, Lee H.
ORCID
Venue
Biogeochemistry
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2021-07-29
Volume
155
Issue
3
Pages
431-452
ISSN
  • 0168-2563 (ISSN-L)
  • 1573-515X
DOI
10.1007/s10533-021-00836-1
OpenAlex
W3198500858
Cited by
15
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3
FWCI
1.46
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Biogeochemistry (publishedVersion)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • national science foundation (BCS-1437591)
  • u.s. department of energy (DE-SC0015898)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Soil Geostatistics and Mapping
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil erosion and sediment transport
Keywords
soil organic carbon, soil carbon fractions, mineral-associated organic carbon, seasonal variation, rainfall, soil fertility, tropical humid forest, litterfall, nitrogen, soil weathering, precipitation change

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