Search results for "Soil carbon turnover Mediterranean succession Stable carbon isotopes C3–C4 and C4–C3 vegetation change"

Carbon dynamics of soil organic matter in bulk soil and aggregate fraction during secondary succession in a Mediterranean environment.

2013

Clarifying which factors cause an increase or decrease in soil organic carbon (SOC) after agricultural abandonment requires integration of data on the temporal dynamics of the plant community and SOC. A chronosequence of abandoned vineyards was studied on a volcanic island (Pantelleria, Italy). Vegetation in the abandoned fields was initially dominated by annual and perennial herbs, then by Hyparrhenia hirta (L.) Stapf, and finally by woody communities. As a consequence, the dominant photosynthetic pathway changed from C3 to C4 and then back to C3. Conversion of a plant community dominated by one photosynthetic pathway to another changes the 13C/12C ratio of inputs to SOC. Using the time si…