Soil C and N cycling in three semiarid vegetation types: Response to an in situ pulse of plant detritus

Plant detritus is an important source of labile C that drives soil microbial growth and regulates the balance of N mineralization and immobilization. In semiarid ecosystems, timing of plant detrital inputs may be especially important in regulating microbial C and N cycling because of the relatively short window of time when moisture is available. Low soil moisture in early-summer may inhibit microbial colonization of recently released detritus, resulting in C-limitations to microbial growth, and this may explain the NO3? accumulation commonly observed in semiarid, arid, and Mediterranean ecosystems. We examined linkages between soil C availability and gross N cycling rates during summer in three common semiarid...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Soil Biology and Biochemistry, carbon availability, detritus, in situ pulse, microbial substrate c:n, All tags... n immobilization, organic matter fraction, semiarid, Fewer tags