Evidence for preferential protein depolymerization in wetland soils  in response to external nitrogen availability provided by a novel FTIR routine

Reuter, Hendrik; Gensel, Julia; Elvert, Marcus; Zak, Dominik

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-499-2020

Articles | Volume 17, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-499-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-499-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 2

Research article

|

31 Jan 2020

Research article |

| 31 Jan 2020

Evidence for preferential protein depolymerization in wetland soils in response to external nitrogen availability provided by a novel FTIR routine

Hendrik Reuter, Julia Gensel, Marcus Elvert, and Dominik Zak

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-499-2020-supplement

Data sets

FTIR, CuO lignin, and bulk decomposition data of a 75-day anoxic Phragmites australis litter decomposition experiment in soil substrates from three northeast German wetlands H. Reuter, J. Gensel, M. Elvert, and D. Zak https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.902181

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Short summary

Using infrared spectroscopy, we developed a routine to disentangle microbial nitrogen (N) and plant N in decomposed litter. In a decomposition experiment in three wetland soils, this routine revealed preferential protein depolymerization as a decomposition-site-dependent parameter, unaffected by variations in initial litter N content. In Sphagnum peat, preferential protein depolymerization led to a N depletion of still-unprocessed litter tissue, i.e., a gradual loss of litter quality.