Dual role of lignin in plant litter decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems

• Autores: Austin, Amy Theresa; Ballaré, Carlos Luis
• Año de publicación: 2010
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Fuente: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; Vol.107, no.10; 4618-4622; http://www.nasonline.org/
• Materia: CARBON CYCLE; PHOTODEGRADATION; SEMIARID GRASSLANDS; ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION; CARBON; CELLULOSE; LIGNIN; POLYMER; ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY; CARBON DYNAMICS; ECOSYSTEM; GRASS; GRASSLAND; LAND BIOME; LIGHT; NONHUMAN; PLANT LITTER; ARGENTINA; BIODEGRADATION, ENVIRONMENTAL; PLANT LEAVES; PLANTS; POACEAE; SOIL; SPECTROPHOTOMETRY
• Institución: Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía

Fil: Austin, Amy Theresa. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura (IFEVA). Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Fil: Austin, Amy Theresa. CONICET – Universidad de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura (IFEVA). Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Fil: Austin, Amy Theresa. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Fil: Ballaré, Carlos Luis. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura (IFEVA). Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Fil: Ballaré, Carlos Luis. CONICET – Universidad de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura (IFEVA). Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Fil: Ballaré, Carlos Luis. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Plant litter decomposition is a critical step in the formation of soil organicmatter, themineralizationoforganic nutrients, andthe carbon balance in terrestrial ecosystems. Biotic decomposition in mesic ecosystems is generally negatively correlated with the concentration of lignin, a group of complex aromatic polymers present in plant cell walls that is recalcitrant to enzymatic degradation and serves as a structural barrier impeding microbial access to labile carbon compounds. Although photochemical mineralization of carbon has recently been shown to be important in semiarid ecosystems, litter chemistry controls on photodegradative losses are not understood. We evaluated the importance of litter chemistry on photodegradation of grass litter and cellulose substrates with varying levels of lignin (cellulose-lignin (CL) substrates) under field conditions. Using wavelength-specific light attenuation filters, we found that light-driven mass loss was promoted by both UV and visible radiation. The spectral dependence of photodegradation correlated with the absorption spectrumof ligninbut not of cellulose. Fieldincubationsdemonstrated that increasing lignin concentration reduced biotic decomposition, as expected, but linearly increased photodegradation. In addition, lignin content in CL substrates consistently decreased in photodegradative incubations. We conclude that lignin has a dual role affecting litter decomposition, depending on the dominant driver (biotic or abiotic) controlling carbon turnover. Under photodegradative conditions, lignin is preferentially degraded because it acts as an effective light-absorbing compound over a wide range of wavelengths. This mechanistic understanding of the role of lignin in plant litter decomposition will allow formoreaccurate predictions of carbon dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems.