Plant economic strategies of grassland species control soil carbon dynamics through rhizodeposition

作者：Ludovic Henneron, Camille Cros, Catherine Picon‐Cochard, Vida Rahimian, Sébastien Fontaine · 发表于：Journal of Ecology · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1111/1365-2745.13276 · 被引用次数：178 · 研究领域：Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics、Pasture and Agricultural Systems、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies

Abstract The plant economics spectrum is increasingly recognized as a major determinant of plant species effects on terrestrial ecosystem functioning related to carbon cycling. However, the role of plant economic strategies in the effects of living root activity on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics through rhizodeposition remains unexplored, despite SOC being the largest terrestrial carbon pool. Using a continuous 13 C‐labelling method allowing partitioning of plant and soil sources to carbon fluxes and pools, we studied here the linkages between plant economic strategies and SOC cycling processes in a ‘common garden’ greenhouse experiment. It includes a panel of 12 grassland species selected along a gradient of economic traits and belonging to three functionnal groups (C3 grasses, forbs and legumes). All species induced an acceleration of native SOC mineralization but this rhizosphere priming effect (RPE) substantially differed across species and varied eleven‐fold by the end of the experiment (from +26% to +295% relative to unplanted soil). Interspecific variation in RPE was primarily linked to plant photosynthetic activity associated to species economic strategies of light and CO 2 resource acquisition and processing. Fast‐growing acquisitive species, such as legumes, featured large RPE, in relation with their high canopy photosynthesis coupled to high leaf photosynthetic capacity and large net primary productivity allocated above‐ground. This large RPE was further associ...