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Latitudinal patterns of light and heavy organic matter fractions in arid and semi-arid soils

Li, Xiaojuan ; Yang, Tinghui ; Hicks, Lettice LU ; Hu, Bin ; Liu, Xin ; Wei, Dandan ; Wang, Zilong and Bao, Weikai (2022) In Catena 215.
Abstract
Semi-arid and arid ecosystems are important for the global C cycle. Despite this, it remains unclear how organic matter fractions vary across latitudinal gradients, and what drives this variation, in dry ecosystems. In this study, we sampled soils from 100 sites across a latitudinal gradient in the dry valleys of southwestern China to explore the latitudinal patterns of light fraction organic matter (LFOM) and heavy fraction organic matter (HFOM) at two soil depths (0–10 cm and 10–20 cm). Across the studied gradient, HFOM accounted for a larger fraction of soil organic matter than LFOM. LFOM increased exponentially with increasing latitude at both 0–10 cm and 10–20 cm depths. Heavy fraction organic C increased linearly with increasing... (More)
Semi-arid and arid ecosystems are important for the global C cycle. Despite this, it remains unclear how organic matter fractions vary across latitudinal gradients, and what drives this variation, in dry ecosystems. In this study, we sampled soils from 100 sites across a latitudinal gradient in the dry valleys of southwestern China to explore the latitudinal patterns of light fraction organic matter (LFOM) and heavy fraction organic matter (HFOM) at two soil depths (0–10 cm and 10–20 cm). Across the studied gradient, HFOM accounted for a larger fraction of soil organic matter than LFOM. LFOM increased exponentially with increasing latitude at both 0–10 cm and 10–20 cm depths. Heavy fraction organic C increased linearly with increasing latitude at both depths, while heavy fraction organic N only increased with latitude in soils from 10 to 20 cm depth. Latitudinal patterns of LFOM were mainly explained by climate, with the most important driver being mean annual temperature, followed by mean annual precipitation. Soil physicochemical factors – in particular cation exchange capacity and silt content – explained the most variation in HFOM. Total microbial biomass was also important in explaining variation in HFOM, especially in the 10–20 cm soil layer. Overall, our results shed light on the spatial distribution of organic matter fractions in arid and semi-arid regions. We also identify candidate drivers of the variation in LFOM and HFOM in arid and semi-arid regions, finding that climate primarily explains variation in LFOM while soil physiochemistry primarily explains variation in HFOM. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Catena
volume
215
article number
106293
pages
12 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85128544712
ISSN
0341-8162
DOI
10.1016/j.catena.2022.106293
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8597b263-b419-4143-82eb-5986071eafba
date added to LUP
2022-04-22 11:06:50
date last changed
2024-05-16 10:29:15
@article{8597b263-b419-4143-82eb-5986071eafba,
  abstract     = {{Semi-arid and arid ecosystems are important for the global C cycle. Despite this, it remains unclear how organic matter fractions vary across latitudinal gradients, and what drives this variation, in dry ecosystems. In this study, we sampled soils from 100 sites across a latitudinal gradient in the dry valleys of southwestern China to explore the latitudinal patterns of light fraction organic matter (LFOM) and heavy fraction organic matter (HFOM) at two soil depths (0–10 cm and 10–20 cm). Across the studied gradient, HFOM accounted for a larger fraction of soil organic matter than LFOM. LFOM increased exponentially with increasing latitude at both 0–10 cm and 10–20 cm depths. Heavy fraction organic C increased linearly with increasing latitude at both depths, while heavy fraction organic N only increased with latitude in soils from 10 to 20 cm depth. Latitudinal patterns of LFOM were mainly explained by climate, with the most important driver being mean annual temperature, followed by mean annual precipitation. Soil physicochemical factors – in particular cation exchange capacity and silt content – explained the most variation in HFOM. Total microbial biomass was also important in explaining variation in HFOM, especially in the 10–20 cm soil layer. Overall, our results shed light on the spatial distribution of organic matter fractions in arid and semi-arid regions. We also identify candidate drivers of the variation in LFOM and HFOM in arid and semi-arid regions, finding that climate primarily explains variation in LFOM while soil physiochemistry primarily explains variation in HFOM.}},
  author       = {{Li, Xiaojuan and Yang, Tinghui and Hicks, Lettice and Hu, Bin and Liu, Xin and Wei, Dandan and Wang, Zilong and Bao, Weikai}},
  issn         = {{0341-8162}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Catena}},
  title        = {{Latitudinal patterns of light and heavy organic matter fractions in arid and semi-arid soils}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2022.106293}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.catena.2022.106293}},
  volume       = {{215}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}