Altered soil organic carbon stability in eastern deciduous forest: interplay between forest successional Stage and invasive earthworm activity

Detritivore -mediated decomposition and incorporation of aboveground litter is an important processes in soil carbon cycle of forest ecosystems that can be a major control on the proportion of stable and unstable soil carbon pools. We investigated how earthworm activity interacts with litter type to alter the stability of soil organic carbon (SOC) in an eastern deciduous successional forest within at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC). Soil C and N content and chemistry (lignin and fatty acids) among particulate and mineral-bound fractions was shifted after 5 years of litter (wood and leaf) addition but with significant differences among the forest successional stages and with earthworm activity. Results from a 6 month laboratory incubation (25°C and 15°C) of bulk soil samples taken from the treatments and incubated at 25°C and 15°C demonstrate that litter addition type and earthworm activity interacted to control the proportion of labile and stable carbon. Specifically, the labile C pools in double wood and control treatments were highest in young successional forest with higher earthworm activity. However, in the double leaf treatment, the labile C pool was higher in old successional forests with less worm activity. In general, the stable C pool, released after one month, was higher in old successional forests for all three treatments. The difference of the stable pool between young and old successional forest was the largest with double wood treatment, followed by control treatment and the lowest with double leaf treatment. In summary, wood treatment shifted SOC pool to relatively more stable pool in old successional forests decreasing labile C pool but not the young sites. While double leaf treatment increased the labile pool in old forests but in young successional forests, SOC shifted to relatively more stable pool by decreasing the labile pool and increasing the stable pool. This result indicates that the type of aboveground litter input interact with earthworm activity will largely influence SOC stability and soil C cycling in deciduous forests at different successional stages.