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Plant Soil (2016) 407:135143 DOI 10.1007/s11104-015-2710-3
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Peatland vascular plant functional types affect dissolved organic matter chemistry
Bjorn J. M. Robroek & Remy J. H. Albrecht &
Samuel Hamard & Adrian Pulgarin & Luca Bragazza &
Alexandre Buttler & Vincent EJ Jassey
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6714-0652
Web End = Received: 31 August 2015 /Accepted: 12 October 2015 /Published online: 15 October 2015 # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
AbstractBackground and aims Northern peatlands are large repositories of carbon. Peatland vascular plant community composition has been functionally associated to a set of biogeochemical processes such as carbon cycling. Yet, we do not fully understand to what extent vascular plant functional types (PFTs) affect the quality of dissolved
organic matter, and if there is any feedback on soil microbial activity.
Methods Using a longerterm plant removal experiment in a boreonemoral peatland in Southern Sweden, we relate the dominance of different vascular plant functional types (i.e. ericoids and graminoids) to the chemistry of the dissolved organic matter (DOM) and microbial enzymatic activities (fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis, FDA). Results Our results show that PFTs modifies the composition of DOM moieties, with a decrease of low molecular weight organic compounds after vascular plant removal. The decrease of enzymatic activity by up to 68 % in the plant removal plots suggests a reduction in DOM mineralization in the absence of vascular plants. Conclusions Our results show that plantderived low molecular organic compounds enhance peatland microbial activity, and suggest that an increase of vascular plant cover in response to climate change can potentially destabilize the OM in peatlands, leading to increased carbon losses.
Keywords Dissolved organic matter chemistry. Enzymaticactivity.FDA .FT-IR .Plantfunctionaltypes . Plant-soil interactions . Sphagnum-dominated peatlands
Introduction
High diversity of plant species is essential to maintain ecosystem processes, and consequently, the resistance to climate change (Isbell et al. 2011; Bloor and Bardgett 2012). The rationale behind this is that species, or
Responsible Editor: Elizabeth M. Baggs.
B. J. M. Robroek (*) : R. J. H. Albrecht : S. Hamard :
A. Pulgarin : L. Bragazza : A. Buttler : V. E. Jassey School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), Laboratory of Ecological Systems (ECOS), cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL), Btiment GR, Station 2, -1015...