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Responses of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus to two consecutive drying–rewetting cycles in soils
Author(s) -
Pezzolla Daniela,
Cardenas Laura M.,
Mian Ishaq A.,
Carswell Alison,
Donovan Neil,
Dhanoa Mewa S.,
Blackwell Martin S. A.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of plant nutrition and soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.644
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1522-2624
pISSN - 1436-8730
DOI - 10.1002/jpln.201800082
Subject(s) - soil water , chemistry , nitrogen , nitrous oxide , water content , nutrient , ammonium , environmental chemistry , carbon dioxide , phosphorus , biomass (ecology) , zoology , agronomy , mineralization (soil science) , ammonium bicarbonate , environmental science , soil science , biology , raw material , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , engineering
Drying and rewetting cycles are known to be important for the dynamics of carbon (C), phosphorus (P), and nitrogen (N) in soils. This study reports the short‐term responses of these nutrients to consecutive drying and rewetting cycles and how varying soil moisture content affects microbial biomass C and P (MBC and MBP), as well as associated carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions. The soil was incubated for 14 d during which two successive drying–rewetting episodes were imposed on the soils. Soils subjected to drying (DRW) were rewetted on the seventh day of each drying period to return them to 60% water holding capacity, whilst continually moist samples (M), with soil maintained at 60% water holding capacity, were used as control samples. During the first seven days, the DRW samples showed significant increases in extractable ammonium, total oxidized nitrogen, and bicarbonate extractable P concentrations. Rewetting after the first drying event produced significant increases only in CO 2 flux (55.4 µg C g −1 d −1 ). The MBC and MBP concentrations fluctuated throughout the incubation in both treatments and only the second drying–rewetting event resulted in a significantly MBC decrease (416.2 and 366.8 mg kg −1 in M and DRW soils, respectively). The two drying–rewetting events impacted the microbial biomass, but distinguishing the different impacts of microbial versus physical impacts of the perturbation is difficult. However, this study, having a combined approach (C, N, and P), indicates the importance of understanding how soils will react to changing patterns of drying–rewetting under future climate change.