Aridity Drives the Response of Soil Total and Particulate Organic Carbon to Drought in Temperate Grasslands and Shrublands

Authors

• Baoku Shi, Northeast Normal University
• Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS)
• Alan K. Knapp, Colorado State University
• Melinda D. Smith, Colorado State UniversityFollow
• Sasha Reed, Southwest Biological Science Center
• Brooke Osborne, Utah State UniversityFollow
• Yolima Carrillo, Western Sydney University
• Fernando T. Maestre, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
• Yu Zhu, Central South University of Forestry and Technology
• Anping Chen, Colorado State University
• Kate Wilkins, Colorado State University
• Martin C. Holdrege, Utah State University
• Andrew Kulmatiski, Utah State UniversityFollow
• Catherine Picon-Cochard, Université Clermont Auvergne
• Christiane Roscher, Helmholtzcentre for environmental Research,
• Sally Power, Western Sydney University
• Kerry M. Byrne, California State Polytechnic University
• Amber C. Churchill, University of Minnesota
• Anke Jentsch, University of Bayreuth
• Hugh A. L. Henry, University of Western Ontario
• Karen H. Beard, Utah State UniversityFollow
• Max A. Schuchardt, University of Bayreuth
• Nico Eisenhauer, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
• Rafael Otfinowski, The University of Winnipeg
• Yann Hautier, Utrecht University
• Huitao Shen, Hebei Academy of Sciences
• Yonghui Wang, Inner Mongolia University
• Zhongwu Wang, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University
• Chengliang Wang, Northeast Normal University
• Daniela Francis Cusack, Colorado State University
• Alessandro Petraglia, University of Parma
• Michele Carbognani, University of Parma
• T’ai G.W. Forte, University of Parma
• S. Luke Flory, University of Florida
• Pengli Hou, Northeast Normal University
• Tao Zhang, Northeast Normal University
• Weifeng Gao, Northeast Normal University
• Wei Sun, Northeast Normal UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Science Advances

Author ORCID Identifier

Baoku Shi https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3954-9415

Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6499-576X

Alan K. Knapp https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1695-4696

Melinda D. Smith https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4920-6985

Sasha Reed https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8597-8619

Yolima Carrillo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8726-4601

Fernando T. Maestre https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7434-4856

Anping Chen https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2085-3863

Kate Wilkins https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9875-1149

Martin C. Holdrege https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4078-6012

Andrew Kulmatiski https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9977-5508

Catherine Picon-Cochard https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7728-8936

Sally Power https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2723-8671

Kerry M. Byrne https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5611-0620

Amber C. Churchill https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9136-8131

Anke Jentsch https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2345-8300

Karen H. Beard https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4997-2495

Max A. Schuchardt https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3103-8063

Nico Eisenhauer https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0371-6720

Rafael Otfinowski https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8242-5947

Huitao Shen https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5294-5282

Yonghui Wang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3351-4134

Chengliang Wang https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7128-0685

Daniela Francis Cusack https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4681-7449

Alessandro Petraglia https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4632-2251

Michele Carbognani https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7701-9859

T’ai G.W. Forte https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8685-5872

Tao Zhang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1229-9121

Weifeng Gao https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3277-1761

Wei Sun https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1601-2159

Volume

10

Issue

40

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Publication Date

10-4-2024

Journal Article Version

Version of Record

First Page

1

Last Page

9

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of drought events in grasslands and shrublands worldwide potentially has impacts on soil organic carbon (SOC). We leveraged the International Drought Experiment to study how SOC, including particulate organic carbon (POC) and mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC) concentrations, responds to extreme drought treatments (1-in-100-year) for 1 to 5 years at 19 sites worldwide. In more mesic areas (aridity index > 0.65), SOC and POC concentrations decreased by 7.9% (±3.9) and 15.9% (±6.2) with drought, respectively, but there were no impacts on MAOC concentrations. However, drought had no impact on SOC, POC, or MAOC concentrations in drylands (aridity index < 0.65). The response of SOC to drought varied along an aridity gradient, concomitant with interannual precipitation variability and standing SOC concentration gradients. These findings highlight the differing response magnitudes of POC and MAOC concentrations to drought and the key regulating role of aridity.

Recommended Citation

Baoku Shi et al., Aridity drives the response of soil total and particulate organic carbon to drought in temperate grasslands and shrublands. Sci. Adv. 10, eadq2654 (2024). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adq2654