A collaborative study between the research groups of Ji Chen at the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Qi Deng at the South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, investigated the response of surface and subsurface soil carbon to nitrogen addition. The research findings have recently been published in Global Change Biology.
The team found that nitrogen addition significantly increased surface soil organic carbon, while its impact on subsurface soil organic carbon was not significant. Surface soil organic carbon increased significantly with nitrogen application over time; conversely, subsurface soil organic carbon showed a significant increase under short-term nitrogen addition but exhibited a noticeable decline trend under long-term nitrogen addition. The study emphasizes the importance of soil depth and nitrogen addition duration in predicting soil organic carbon response to nitrogen addition. Considering the critical role of subsurface soil in organic carbon sequestration, the loss of subsurface soil carbon with long-term nitrogen addition implies that earlier studies may have overestimated the soil carbon sink effect under enhanced nitrogen deposition.
Related paper information: https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17247
