Journal
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
Volume 743, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140829
Keywords
Postagricultural succession; Hydrolytic enzyme activity; Substrate specificity; Plant litter C-13 NMR spectra; Organic and microbial carbon; Luvic Phaeozem
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Funding
- project Study of the soil precursors, sources, and stocks of greenhouse gases in connection with climate changes [0191-2019-0045]
- Russian Foundation for Basic Research [18-04-00773a]
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) [KU-1184/35-1]
- DAAD fellowship program
- RUDN University program5-100
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The trends of enzyme activities and litter chemistry after abandonment of arable soil and succession of natural vegetation were studied in a deciduous forest zone (Moscow region, Russia). The Luvic Phaeozem chronosequence included an arable field, 3 fields with increasing abandonment periods (7, 11, 35 years), and the soil under natural forest as a reference site (never used for cropland). The activities of four hydrolytic enzymes beta-glucosidase, cellobiohydrolase, beta-galactosidase, chitinase) in the topsoil (0-5 cm) were compared with chemical functional groups of plant litter identified by C-13 NMR spectra. The total enzyme activity increased 5-fold during 35 years of post agricultural restoration of arable soil. The share of C-cycle enzymes with ''narrower substrate specificity (cellobiohydrolase and chitinase) increased during 35 years from 19% to 42% of the total enzyme pool. We explain this gain by the increase in the diversity and recalcitrance of organic compounds in the plant litter from cropland to natural forest. Aromaticity index of plant litter built up remarkably: from 0.11 in the young abandoned land to 0.14-0.15 in the 35-year abandoned land and the reference site. The share of enzymes with a narrower substrate specificity correlated closely with the portions of aryl C, O-aryl C, and carbonyl C functional groups in plant litter. Accordingly, the succession of natural vegetation on abandoned cropland leads to strong diversification of the plant litter composition and a corresponding production of soil enzymes with narrower substrate specificity. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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