Na. Scott, SOIL AGGREGATION AND ORGANIC-MATTER MINERALIZATION IN FORESTS AND GRASSLANDS - PLANT-SPECIES EFFECTS, Soil Science Society of America journal, 62(4), 1998, pp. 1081-1089
Plant-soil feedbacks can alter N cycling rates in terrestrial ecosyste
ms, but the mechanistic relationship between species characteristics,
soil properties, and N dynamics is unclear. Plant species may affect p
atterns of soil aggregation, which can affect soil C and net N mineral
ization. This mechanism was examined in two common garden experiments:
one containing five tree species (European larch [Larix decidua Mille
r], red oak [Quercus rubra L.], red pine [Pinus resinosa Ait.], white
pine [Pinus strobus L,], and Norway spruce [Picea abies (L.) Karst]) a
nd one containing six grass species (big bluestem [Andropogon gerardi
Vitm.], indiangrass [Sorghastrum nutans (L.) Nash], prairie sandreed [
Calamovilfa longifolia (Hook) Scrib,], switchgrass [Panicum virgatum L
.], little bluestem [Schizachyrium scoparium (Michx.) Nash.], and side
oats grama [Bouteloua curtipendula (Michx.) Torr.]), The grass monocul
tures are burned annually. Soils were wet sieved into four size classe
s (>2000, 250-2000, 53-250, and <53 mu m). Unsieved soil was incubated
aerobically for 30 and 387 d to examine C and net N mineralization. F
or tree species, aggregate weighted mean diameter (WMD) differed betwe
en species (P = 0.01), and correlated positively with fungal biomass (
r = 0.56). Large macro-aggregate (>2000 pm) C concentration ranged fro
m 15 to 26 g kg(-1), and was lowest for Norway spruce and red oak (P =
0.07). Aggregate WMD correlated weakly (and negatively) with potentia
lly mineralizable N (r = -0.57) and in situ net N mineralization (r =
-0.67), but positively (again weakly) with potentially mineralizable C
(r = 0.49). Grass species had no effect on aggregate-size distributio
n or organic matter concentration in spite of twofold differences in r
oot biomass and threefold differences in N cycling rates. Species-indu
ced changes in soil aggregation explained little of the variation in w
hole-soil C and N cycling rates, and are therefore unlikely to be an i
mportant mechanism explaining species effects on ecosystem processes.