The need to understand the mechanisms behind carbon stabilization into slowly cycling pools has become urgent due to the threat of climate change. A major part of global carbon pool is stored belowground in boreal forests, mainly in soil organic matter. However, the mechanisms of soil organic matter transformations, i.e. decomposition and stabilization have not been well identified nor yet described in Earth System Models used to estimate global climate change.
FTA: “The studies confirmed our hypothesis that tannins, abundant plant polyphenolics, and chitin, a polymer present in fungal cell wall, are involved in stabilization of fungal necromass that is highly abundant in soils,” says the lead author of the papers, Dr. Bartosz Adamczyk from Luke. “Furthermore, the field experiments showed that plant roots promote a different soil nitrogen economy with higher concentrations of organic soil nitrogen compared to inorganic soil nitrogen. Taken together, these findings provide a novel framework on how plant roots affect soil organic matter decomposition and stabilization.”