Historical forest disturbance reduces soil microbial efficiency across multiple carbon sources

Ernest D. Osburn, Steven G. McBride, J. E. Barrett

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

We measured the catabolic responses of soils to several classes of carbon (C) compounds to characterize the C metabolism of microbial communities in forest ecosystems subject to long-term disturbances at the USFS Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in North Carolina, USA. Catabolic profiles were distinct between reference and disturbed forest soils when adjusted to microbial biomass, reflecting higher biomass-specific respiration responses to all substrates in disturbed soils. However, only amino acid metabolism exhibited differences between land uses (i.e., disturbed > reference) when expressed as percentages of total C respired. Overall, we observed a general reduction in microbial efficiency across all substrates and greater overall metabolism of some substrates in disturbed soils. These results suggest that disturbed soil microbial communities could drive alterations to soil C cycling by altering the distribution of C amongst different pools in these forests.

Original languageEnglish
Article number108542
JournalSoil Biology and Biochemistry
Volume165
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

  • Carbon
  • Catabolic profile
  • Disturbance
  • Forest
  • Management
  • Microbial community

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology
  • Soil Science

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