Microbial response to carbon and nutrient additions in boreal forest soils and coversoils used during post-mining reclamation

Abstract

Two types of organic-matter-rich coversoils are used during reclamation in the oil sands region of Alberta: forest floor material (FFM) salvaged from upland forests, and peat material (PM) salvaged from boreal wetlands. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that carbon (C) and nutrient availability may limit microbial activity in these reclamation materials by measuring their response to either 13C-labeled glucose or NPKS addition. Coversoil materials were compared with two natural forest soils corresponding to target sites for reclamation. A shift in microbial community structure (determined using phospholipid fatty acid analysis) was detected after both additions, but it was stronger with glucose than NPKS, especially for the two reclamation materials. For all soils, the increase in microbial respiration was stronger after glucose than after NPKS addition. The majority of CO2 originated from soil organic matter (SOM) for the natural forest soils but from glucose for the reclamation materials. In PM, glucose addition triggered SOM mineralization, as shown by a positive priming effect. Despite the absence of a priming effect for FFM, microbial communities incorporated higher rates of glucose into their biomass and respired double the amount of glucose compared with the other materials. Furthermore, the overall microbial community structure in the FFM became more similar to that of the natural forest soil materials following glucose addition. These findings indicate that C and NPKS limitations were stronger for the two reclamation materials than for the two natural forest soils. Furthermore, microbial communities in the two reclamation materials responded more readily to labile C than to NPKS addition.