Hanna CHANG, Seung Hyun HAN, Seongjun KIM, Yowhan SON, Guanlin LI

Increased soil temperature stimulates changes in carbon, nitrogen, and mass loss in the fine roots of Pinus koraiensis under experimental warming and drought

The effects of warming (+3 °C) and drought (–30% precipitation) on the fine root decomposition of Pinus koraiensis seedlingswere examined using a litter bag method. The study site included a full factorial design with two temperature and two precipitationlevels, with three replicates. Litter bags containing fine root litter of 2-year-old P. koraiensis seedlings were retrieved after 3, 6, and 12months of decomposition. After 12 months, the mass loss of fine roots was significantly increased in response to warming (control =31.1%, warming = 35.9%, drought = 29.2%, and warming plus drought = 35.5%); no change was observed until 6 months. Mass losswas not influenced by drought or by the interaction between warming and drought. Warming increased the nitrogen concentration offine root litter but decreased the carbon concentration and carbon/nitrogen ratio after 6 and 12 months. This may be because warmingstimulated nitrogen immobilization, which reduced the carbon/nitrogen ratio. Therefore, the carbon/nitrogen ratio may be affected bywarming prior to changes in the mass loss of fine roots because roots with a low carbon/nitrogen ratio are generally characterized byhigh available nitrogen for decomposers. These results suggest that climate change (especially warming) may cause rapid decompositionof organic matter.

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