Microbial necromass as the source of soil organic carbon in global ecosystems

Abstract Despite the recognized importance of the contribution of microbial necromass to soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration, at a global scale, there has been no quantification for cropland, grassland, and forest ecosystems. To address this knowledge gap, the contents of fungal and bacterial necromass were estimated based on glucosamine and muramic acid contents in cropland (986 samples), grassland (278 samples), and forest (452 samples) soils. On an average, microbial necromass C contributed 51%, 47%, and 35% to the SOC in cropland, grassland, and forest soils, respectively, in the first 20 cm of topsoil. The contribution of microbial necromass to SOC increased with soil depth in grasslands (from 47% to 54%) and forests (from 34% to 44%), while it decreased in croplands (from 51% to 24%). The microbial necromass accumulation coefficient (the ratio between necromass and living microbial biomass C) was higher in soil from croplands (41) and grasslands (33) than in forest (20) soils. These results suggest that the turnover of living microbial biomass is faster in grassland and cropland soils than in forest soils, where the latter contains more partially decomposed plant residues. Fungal necromass C (>65% of total necromass) had consistently higher contributions to SOC than bacterial necromass C (32–36%) in all soils due to i) a larger living fungal biomass than bacterial biomass, and ii) fungal cell compounds being decomposed slowly and, thus able to persist longer in soil. The ratio of fungal:bacterial necromass C increased from 2.4 to 2.9 in the order of croplands