Latitudinal patterns of light and heavy organic matter fractions in arid and semi-arid soils
(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)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8597b263-b419-4143-82eb-5986071eafba
- author
- Li, Xiaojuan ; Yang, Tinghui ; Hicks, Lettice LU ; Hu, Bin ; Liu, Xin ; Wei, Dandan ; Wang, Zilong and Bao, Weikai
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022
- 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}}, }