Soil CO2 efflux and fungal and bacterial biomass in a plantation and a secondary forest in wet tropics in Puerto Rico

Abstract

We examined the effects of root and litter exclusion on the rate of soil CO2 efflux and microbial biomass using trenching and tent separation techniques in a secondary forest (SF) and a pine (Pinus caribaea Morelet) plantation in the Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico. Soil surface CO2 efflux was measured using the alkali trap method at 12 randomly-distributed locations in each treatment (control, root exclusion, litter exclusion, and both root and litter exclusion) in the plantation and the SF, respectively. We measured soil CO2 efflux every two months and collected soil samples at each sampling location in different seasons to determine microbial biomass from August 1996 to July 1997. We found that soil CO2 efflux was significantly reduced in the litter and root exclusion plots (7-year litter and/or root exclusion) in both the secondary forest and the pine plantation compared with the control. The reduction of soil CO2 efflux was 35.6% greater in the root exclusion plots than in the litter exclusion plots in the plantation, whereas a reversed pattern was found in the secondary forest. Microbial biomass was also reduced during the litter and root exclusion period. In the root exclusion plots, total fungal biomass averaged 31.4% and 65.2% lower than the control plots in the plantation and the secondary forest, respectively, while the total bacterial biomass was 24% and 8.3% lower than the control plots in the plantation and the secondary forest, respectively. In the litter exclusion treatment, total fungal biomass averaged 69.2% and 69.7% lower than the control plots in the plantation and the secondary forest, respectively, while the total bacterial biomass was 48% and 50.1% lower than the control plots in the plantation and the secondary forest, respectively. Soil CO2 efflux was positively correlated with both fungal and bacterial biomass in both the plantation the secondary forest. The correlation between soil CO2 efflux and active fungal biomass was significantly higher in the plantation than in the secondary forest. However, the correlation between the soil CO2 efflux and both the active and total bacterial biomass was significantly higher in the secondary forest than in the plantation in the day season. In addition, we found soil CO2 efflux was highly related to the strong interactions among root, fungal and bacterial biomass by multiple regression analysis (R2 > 0.61, P < 0.05). Our results suggest that carbon input from aboveground litterfall and roots (root litter and exudates) is critical to the soil microbial community and ecosystem carbon cycling in the wet tropical forests.