Permanganate Oxidizable Carbon Reflects a Processed Soil Fraction that is Sensitive to Management
Open accessAbstract
Permanganate oxidizable C (POXC; i.e., active C) is a relatively new method that can quantify labile soil C rapidly and inexpensively. Despite limited reports of positive correlations with particulate organic C (POC), microbial biomass C (MBC), and other soil C fractions, little is known about what soil fractions POXC most closely reflects. We measured POXC across a wide range of soil types, ecosystems, and geographic areas (12 studies, 53 total sites, n = 1379) to: (i) determine the relationship between POXC and POC, MBC and soil organic C (SOC) fractions, and (ii) determine the relative sensitivity of POXC as a labile soil C metric across a range of environmental and management conditions. Permanganate oxidizable C was significantly related to POC, MBC, and SOC, and these relationships were strongest when data were analyzed by individual studies. Permanganate oxidizable C was more closely related to smaller-sized (53–250 μm) than larger POC fractions (250–2000 μm), and more closely related to heavier (>1.7 g cm−3) than lighter POC fractions, indicating that it reflects a relatively processed pool of labile soil C. Compared with POC, MBC, or SOC, POXC demonstrated greater sensitivity to changes in management or environmental variation in 42% of the significant experimental factors examined across the 12 studies. Our analysis demonstrates the usefulness of POXC in quickly and inexpensively assessing changes in the labile soil C pool.
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The labile C fraction is closely associated with nutrient cycling and C accrual and is sensitive to land management changes.
“While potentially highly variable (Ladoni et al., 2015), the labile C fraction is closely associated with nutrient cycling and C accrual and is sensitive to land management changes (Culman et al., 2012; Hurisso et al., 2016).”
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 Culman et al., 2012
The Abstract (page not provided) reports that permanganate-oxidizable carbon reflects a labile soil carbon pool and is sensitive to management changes. It also reports associations with other carbon fractions, but does not establish the claimed close association with nutrient cycling or carbon accrual. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPOXC and microbial respiration are both indicators of putatively microbially accessible C.
“POXC and microbial respiration are both indicators of putatively microbially accessible C (Burke et al., 2019; Culman et al., 2012; Hurisso et al., 2016) and may help illuminate the early plant-soil-microbial C dynamics in these systems.”
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 Culman et al., 2012
The Abstract describes POXC as a measure of labile soil carbon and reports its relationship with microbial biomass carbon. It does not address microbial respiration or establish that both measures indicate microbially accessible carbon. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the mine sites, the decrease in POXC from the first to the second sampling date and then increase from the second to third sampling date with increasing respiration across all three sample dates could potentially be indicative of variability in the relationship between plant NPP and microbial C demand.
“In the mine sites, the decrease in POXC from the first to the second sampling date and then increase from the second to third sampling date with increasing respiration across all three sample dates could potentially be indicative of variability in the relationship between plant NPP and microbial C demand (Culman et al., 2012).”
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 Culman et al., 2012
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Cites
Stabilization mechanisms of soil organic matter: Implications for C-saturation of soils
Six, J., Conant, R. T., Paul, E. A., & Paustian, K. (2002) · Plant and Soil · doi:10.1023/a:1016125726789 · Cited by 4,633 · see citing works
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Do diverse cover crop mixtures perform better than monocultures? A systematic review
Florence, A. M., & McGuire, A. M. (2020) · Agronomy Journal · doi:10.1002/agj2.20340 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Multi-functional assessment of soil health under conservation agriculture in Cambodia
Pheap, S., Lefèvre, C., Thoumazeau, A., Leng, V., Boulakia, S., Koy, R., Hok, L., Lienhard, P., Brauman, A., & Tivet, F. (2019) · Soil and Tillage Research · doi:10.1016/j.still.2019.104349 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
John, I., Snapp, S., Nord, A., Chimonyo, V., Gwenambira, C., & Chikowo, R. (2021) · Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment · doi:10.1016/j.agee.2021.107585 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Self-citationFrom the Ground Up: Prairies on Reclaimed Mine Land—Impacts on Soil and Vegetation
Swab, R. M., Lorenz, N., Lee, N. R., Culman, S. W., & Dick, R. P. (2020) · Land · doi:10.3390/land9110455 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
“Standard soil chemistry analyses (pH, nutrients including P, K, Fe) were conducted in the laboratory following the methods in [47].”
MethodSelf-citationGrover, S., Anderson, H. M., Fleck, J., Kelly, C. N., Schuler, J., Ruark, M. D., & Freedman, Z. B. (2024) · Soil Science Society of America Journal · doi:10.1002/saj2.20647 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- Culman, S. W., Snapp, S. S., Freeman, M. A., Schipanski, M. E., Beniston, J., Lal, R., Drinkwater, L. E., Franzluebbers, A. J., Glover, J. D., Grandy, A. S., Lee, J., Six, J., Maul, J. E., Mirksy, S. B., Spargo, J. T., & Wander, M. M.
- Affiliations
- Kellogg Biological Station and Crop & Soil Sciences Department; Michigan State Univ.; 3700 E Gull Lake Dr. Hickory Corners MI 49060
- Michigan State University (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Cornell University (US)
- Agricultural Research Service (US)
- United States Agency for International Development (US)
- University of New Hampshire (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Soil Science Society of America Journal
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2012-03
- Volume
- 76
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 494-504
- ISSN
- 0361-5995 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2027623065
- Cited by
- 751
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 101 · 2025: 76 · 2024: 69 · 2023: 69 · 2022: 73 · 2021: 93 · 2020: 57 · 2019: 50 · 2018: 50 · 2017: 35 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 28.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- scholars.unh.edu
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- doi.wiley.com/10.1002/tdm_license_1.1 (tdm)
- Locations
- Soil Science Society of America Journal (publishedVersion)
- University of New Hampshire Scholars Repository (University of New Hampshire at Manchester) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Funders
- Ceres Trust Organic Research Initiative Grant
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil erosion and sediment transport
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Soil Geostatistics and Mapping
- Keywords
- permanganate oxidizable carbon, labile soil carbon, particulate organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, soil organic carbon fractions, soil carbon fractions, soil texture, soil bulk density
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