Effects of past, present and future atmospheric CO2 concentrations on soil organic matter dynamics in a chaparral ecosystem

Owing to the continuously increasing concentration of atmospheric CO2, it has become a priority to understand if soil organic matter (SOM) will behave as a sink or a source of CO2 under future environmental changes. Although many studies have addressed this question, a clear understanding is still missing, particularly with respect to long-term responses. In this study, we quantified soil C stores and dynamics in relationship to soil aggregation and pool composition in a Californian chaparral ecosystem exposed for 6 years to a gradient of atmospheric CO2 concentrations, ranging from pre-industrial levels 250 to 750 μl l−1 CO2. Fossil fuel-derived CO2 depleted in 13C was used for the fumigation, thus providing a tracer of C input from the vegetation to the soil.Long-term CO2 exposure invariably affected soil aggregation, with a significant decrease in the macroaggregate fraction at highest CO2 levels relative to the other two size fractions (i.e. microaggregates and silt and clay). This soil structural change most likely reduced the stability and protection of SOM, and C content generally decreased in most fractions over the CO2 treatments, and induced faster turnover of recently fixed C at high CO2 levels. The strongest response was found in the C content of the microaggregates, which decreased significantly (P<0.05P<0.05) with rising levels of CO2. We conclude that increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations will decrease soil C in chaparral ecosystems, and that the microaggregate fraction is the most responsive to increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2.