Three source-partitioning of CO fluxes based on a dual-isotope approach to investigate interactions between soil organic carbon, glucose and straw.

Inputs of available organic materials into soil alter the decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM), a process called priming effect. Organic carbon (C) inputs in terrestrial ecosystems are common from various sources (e.g. rhizodeposits, plant residues, microbial necromass) simultaneously, but their interactions as well as mutual effects on SOM decomposition are unknown because multisource partitioning of pools and fluxes was not available. A dual-isotope approach (identical materials except for straw being possessed two C abundances) was adopted to partition total CO emission from three C sources: SOM, glucose and straw. Cumulative CO efflux was quantified into straw-derived (558 μg C g), glucose-derived (480 μg C g) and SOM-derived (58 μg C g) CO during the first 7 days of incubation. Glucose or straw addition induced positive SOM priming, whereas glucose combined with straw resulted in higher SOC loss than that induced by single addition of glucose or straw after day 7. The Spearman's correlation showed that the interactions between glucose and straw shifted from increased CO evolved during their intensive decomposition (days 1 to 3) to mutual constraint on mineralization during the late stage (days 5 to 7). This study provides evidences for the suitability of the dual-isotope approach to partition multiple sources of CO fluxes and C pools, and evaluates their individual or mutual contributions to SOM priming, thus, implicating C sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems.