Soil organic carbon under decadal elevated CO2: Pool size unchanged but stability reduced

Abstract

Soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics under elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentration has been widely reported, however, in which the behaviors of active and passive fractions remain inadequately explored. Here we studied this issue using three pairs of active and passive fractions of SOC under a 10-year free-air CO₂ enrichment experiment (550 ​± ​17 ​ppm) in a cropland in the North China Plain. We found that decadal elevated CO₂ increased the root biomass, root exudation rate and microbial biomass, but had little effects on SOC pool size. Elevated CO₂ increased the readily oxidizable organic carbon (ROOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) due to the increments of root C input, but decreased their paired passive fractions possibly because of the carbon input-induced positive priming effect. Our results indicate the reduced stability of SOC pool under elevated CO₂. This is significant for better predicting SOC feedback to future climate change.