Production of Dissolved Organic Matter During Fungal Wood Rot Decay

Dissolved organic matter mediates numerous biogeochemical processes in soil systems impacting subsurface microbial activity, redox chemistry, soil structure, and carbon and nitrogen sequestration. The structure and chemistry of DOM is a function of the inherited chemistry of the source material, the type of microbial action that has occurred, and selective interaction with mineral substrates. The type of fungal decomposition imparted to woody tissue is a major factor in determining the nature of DOM in forest soils. In order to investigate the relationship between fungal decomposition and the nature of DOM in coniferous forest soils we conducted 32-week inoculation studies on spruce sapwood with basidiomycete brown-rot wood decay fungi where leachable dissolved and colloidal organic matter was separated from decayed residue. A detailed examination of the organic fractions was conducted using 13C-labeled tetramethylammonium hydroxide thermochemolysis, solid-state 13C-NMR, and electrospray mass spectrometry. The progressive stages of microbial decay (cellulolytic and ligninolytic) were manifested in the chemical composition of the DOM which showed an evolution from a composition initially polysaccharide rich to one dominated by mildly oxidized and demethylated lignin. Upon removal of all polysaccharides at 16 weeks the DOM (up to 10% by weight of the original tissue) looked chemically distinct from the degraded residue