Quantification of soil carbon inputs under elevated CO2: C3 plants in a C4 soil

Abstract

The objective of this investigation was to quantify the differences in soil carbon stores after exposure of birch seedlings (Betula pendula Roth.) over one growing season to ambient and elevated carbon dioxide concentrations. One-year-old seedling of birch were transplanted to pots containing ‘C4 soil’ derived from beneath a maize crop, and placed in ambient (350 μL L−1) and elevated (600 μL L−1) plots in a free-air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) experiment. After 186 days the plants and soils were destructively sampled, and analysed for differences in root and stem biomass, total plant tissue and soil C contents and δ13C values. The trees showed a significant increase (+50%) in root biomass, but stem and leaf biomasses were not significantly affected by treatment. C isotope analyses of leaves and fine roots showed that the isotopic signal from the ambient and elevated CO2 supply was sufficiently distinct from that of the ‘C4 soil’ to enable quantification of net root C input to the soil under both ambient and elevated CO2. After 186 days, the pots under ambient conditions contained 3.5 g of C as intact root material, and had gained an additional 0.6 g C added to the soil through root exudation/turnover; comparable figures for the pots under elevated CO2 were 5.9 g C and 1.5 g C, respectively. These data confirm the importance of soils as an enhanced sink for C under elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. We propose the use of ‘C4 soils’ in elevated CO2 experiments as an important technique for the quantification of root net C inputs under both ambient and elevated CO2 treatments.