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Harvard Forest Data Archive

HF303

Effects of Warming on Soil Biogeochemistry at Harvard Forest 2014-2015

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Data

Overview

  • Lead: Kristen DeAngelis, Jerry Melillo, Grace Pold
  • Investigators: Stuart Grandy
  • Contact: Information Manager
  • Start date: 2014
  • End date: 2015
  • Status: complete
  • Location: Prospect Hill Tract (Harvard Forest)
  • Latitude: +42.54 degrees
  • Longitude: -72.18 degrees
  • Elevation: 365 meter
  • Datum: WGS84
  • Taxa:
  • Release date: 2023
  • Language: English
  • EML file: knb-lter-hfr.303.4
  • DOI: digital object identifier
  • EDI: data package
  • DataONE: data package
  • Related links:
  • Study type: short-term measurement
  • Research topic: forest-atmosphere exchange; large experiments and permanent plot studies; soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics
  • LTER core area: organic matter movement
  • Keywords: carbon, climate change, microbial biomass, soil carbon, soil chemistry, soil organic matter, soil warming
  • Abstract:

    More than two decades of experimental soil warming in the Prospect Hill tract of the Harvard Forest has revealed non-linear soil respiration (HF005) and soil carbon loss patterns (Melillo et al., Science, 2017). The datasets here were collected to evaluate how the quantity and quality of soil carbon has been affected by 5C warming, and to assess the role that altered extracellular enzyme allocation may play in this. We collected soils over the 2014 growing season, after 23 years of soil warming. We confirmed previous results that warming had depleted the soil of organic matter, and this was accompanied by an overall decrease in microbial biomass particularly apparent in the forest floor in the fall. Using pyrolysis-GCMS, we found that the relative abundance of soil organic matter compound classes was unaffected by warming in the upper organic horizon (“forest floor”). However, lipids increased in relative abundance to the detriment of polysaccharides and lignin in the upper mineral soil, where warming had depleted soil mineral surfaces of organic matter. Despite these changes in soil organic matter quantity and quality, the potential extracellular enzyme activity per gram of soil was unaffected by warming treatment under common lab conditions. However, under in-situ temperature conditions, warming increased enzyme activity per unit microbial biomass, indicating heated plot microbes get better return on their enzyme investment than those in control plots.

  • Methods:

    Complete methods can be found in Pold et al. 2017. Please see HF005 for additional information about experimental site setup.

    2-3 1.25*10cm soil cores were collected per plot from heated and disturbance control plots throughout the 2014 growing season, homogenized by hand, and transported to the lab at ambient temperature.

    Loss on ignition was estimated on 105C-dried soils by measuring mass loss after 4h at 550C. Carbon and nitrogen content was determined on a Costech ECS140 CHN/S/O analyzer.

    Extracellular enzyme activities were completed on slurries of soil in pH 4.7 50mM sodium acetate buffer within four hours of collection. Slurry was mixed in either a 1:1 ratio with 25mM substrate (phenol oxidase and peroxidase) or a 4:1 ratio with 100uM substrate solution (all others). Substrates were: 4-Methylumbelliferyl β-D-glucopyranoside for β-glucosidase, 4-Methylumbelliferyl N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminide for N-acetylglucosaminidase, 4-Methylumbelliferyl phosphate disodium salt for phosphatase, 4-Methylumbelliferyl β-D-cellobioside for cellobiohydrolase, 4-Methylumbelliferyl-β-D-xylopyranoside for β-xylosidase, L-DOPA for phenol oxidase and L-DOPA+hydrogen peroxide for peroxidase.

    Total microbial biomass was estimated on duplicate samples using a total lipid phosphate extraction as per Frostegard et al. 1991.

  • Organization: Harvard Forest. 324 North Main Street, Petersham, MA 01366, USA. Phone (978) 724-3302. Fax (978) 724-3595.

  • Project: The Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program examines ecological dynamics in the New England region resulting from natural disturbances, environmental change, and human impacts. (ROR).

  • Funding: National Science Foundation LTER grants: DEB-8811764, DEB-9411975, DEB-0080592, DEB-0620443, DEB-1237491, DEB-1832210.

  • Use: This dataset is released to the public under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (No Rights Reserved). Please keep the dataset creators informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset should include proper acknowledgement.

  • License: Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal (CC0-1.0)

  • Citation: DeAngelis K, Melillo J, Pold G. 2023. Effects of Warming on Soil Biogeochemistry at Harvard Forest 2014-2015. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF303 (v.4). Environmental Data Initiative: https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/061a04fa9958a4057d8a366fb799b88a.

Detailed Metadata

hf303-01: microbial biomass based on lipid P

  1. warming: warming treatment of plot of origin
    • C: disturbance control
    • H: heated
  2. soil.type: soil type analyzed
    • Mineral: mineral
    • Organic: organic
  3. plot: plot identification number
  4. timepoint: sampling timepoint
  5. doy: day of year in 2014 when soil was sampled (unit: nominalDay / missing value: NA)
  6. date: date of soil sampling
  7. lipidp.dry: lipid phosphate mass per gram of dry soil (unit: nanogramPerGram / missing value: NA)
  8. lipidp.wet: lipid phosphate mass per gram of wet soil (unit: nanogramPerGram / missing value: NA)

hf303-02: stable isotope analysis of mineral soil C and N

  1. sample.id: sample identification number
  2. treatment: warming treatment of plot of origin
    • dc: disturbance control
    • h: heated plots
  3. d13c: delta 13C (unit: number / missing value: NA)
  4. c.ug: micrograms carobon in sample (unit: microgram / missing value: NA)
  5. d15n: delta 14N (unit: number / missing value: NA)
  6. n.ug: micrograms nitrogen in sample (unit: microgram / missing value: NA)
  7. material: mineral soil sampled at 0-3 cm depth
  8. analysis: analysis
  9. enriched: whether or not enriched
    • No: not enriched
  10. amount: mass of soil analyzed (unit: milligram / missing value: NA)
  11. lab.id: lab identification number
  12. analysis.num: analysis identification number

hf303-03: soil chemistry based on pyrolysis-GC/MS

  1. sample.id: sample identification name
  2. warming.treatment: warming treatment of plot of origin
    • H: heated
    • C: disturbance control
  3. plot: plot identification number
  4. soil: soil type analyzed
    • Organic: organic
    • Mineral: mineral
  5. aromatic: fraction of peak area assigned to aromatic compounds (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  6. lignin: fraction of peak area assigned to lignin (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  7. lipid: fraction of peak area assigned to lipid compounds (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  8. polysaccharide: fraction of peak area assigned to polysaccharides (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  9. nbearing: fraction of peak area assigned to N-bearing compounds (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  10. protein: fraction of peak area assigned to proteins (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  11. phenol: fraction of peak area assigned to phenolic compounds (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  12. unknown.origin: fraction of peak area which could not be assigned to specific compound classes (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)

hf303-04: weights of soil aggregates and soil aggregate fractions

  1. sample.id: sample identification name
  2. depth: depth of soil used
    • >3: greater than 3 cm
    • 0-3: 0-3 cm
  3. warming.treatment: warming treatment of plot of origin
    • C: disturbance control
    • H: heated
  4. plot: plot identification number
  5. soil.wt: soil weight (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
  6. lg.wt: weight of soil aggregates greater than 250um (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
  7. micro.wt: weight of aggregates less than 250um (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
  8. fpom.wt: weight of fine particulate organic matter fraction (less than 250um) (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
  9. opom.wt: weight of occluded particulate organic matter inside aggregates (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
  10. mom.wt: weight of mineral-associated fraction in aggregates (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
  11. siltclay.wt: weight of less than 53um sand/silt soil fraction not in aggregates (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
  12. cpom.wt: weight of coarse particulate organic matter (greater than 250um) (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
  13. fpomopom: mass ratio of free fine particulate organic matter to that occluded in aggregates (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  14. opommom: mass ratio of occluded particulate organic matter to mineral organic matter (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)

hf303-05: mass percent of carbon and nitrogen in soil aggregate fractions

  1. sample.id: sample identification name
  2. weight: amount of soil used for CN analysis (unit: milligram / missing value: NA)
  3. n: nitrogen fraction percent by mass (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  4. c: carbon fraction percent by mass (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  5. fraction: soil fraction used
    • CPOM: coarse particulate organic matter
    • FPOM: fine particulate organic matter
    • MOM: mineral-associated organic matter
    • OPOM: occluded particulate organic matter

hf303-06: potential extracellular enzyme activity for soil samples

  1. timepoint: sampling timepoint
  2. sample.id: sample identification name
  3. enzyme: extracellular enzyme assayed
    • BX: beta-xylosidase
    • CBH: cellobiohydrolase
    • HPO: peroxidase
    • NAG: N-acetylglucosaminidase
    • BG: beta-glucosidase
    • PO: phenol oxidase
    • PHOS: phosphatase
  4. warming: warming treatment of plot of origin
    • H: heated
    • DC: disturbance control
  5. plot: plot identification number
  6. soil: soil type analyzed
    • Mineral: mineral
    • Organic: organic
  7. eea: extracellular enzyme activity rate (nmols substrate per gram of dry soil per hour) (unit: nanomolePerGramPerHour / missing value: NA)
  8. water.content: gravimetric moisture content (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  9. doy: day of year of sampling in 2014 (unit: nominalDay / missing value: NA)
  10. date: date of sampling

hf303-07: carbon and nitrogen

  1. sample.id: sample identification name
  2. replicate: technical replicate
  3. n: percent nitrogen (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  4. c: percent carbon (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  5. other: soil into CN analyzer minus sum (carbon mass + nitrogen mass) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  6. c.n: carbon to nitrogen ratio (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  7. plot: soil warming plot identification
  8. warming: warming treatment
    • H: heated
    • C: disturbance control
  9. soil: soil type sampled
    • Organic: organic
    • Mineral: mineral

hf303-08: loss on ignition data for soil organic content

  1. sample.id: sample identification name
  2. treatment: warming treatment of plot of origin
    • H: heated
    • DC: disturbance control
  3. soil: soil type sampled
    • M: 0-10cm depth mineral soil
    • O: organic horizon soil
  4. plot: soil warming plot identification
  5. loi.tin: weight of tin (for taring) (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
  6. loi.soil: weight of tin plus soil before ashing (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
  7. loi.550c.4hrs: weight of tin plus soil after ashing (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
  8. per.loi: percent Loss on Ignition after 4 hours at 550C (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  9. timepoint: timepoint sampled during the growing season, 2014
    • T1: April 28
    • T2: June 3
    • T3: June 30
    • T4: August 25
    • T5: September 22
    • T6: October 28