Articles | Volume 22, issue 23
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-7535-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-7535-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
02 Dec 2025
Research article |
| 02 Dec 2025
| 02 Dec 2025
How does nitrogen control soil organic matter turnover and composition? – Theory and model
Chun Chung Yeung
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Forest Ecology, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Harald Bugmann
Forest Ecology, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Frank Hagedorn
Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Margaux Moreno Duborgel
Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Olalla Díaz-Yáñez
Forest Resources Management, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
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Yannek Käber, Florian Hartig, and Harald Bugmann
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Short summary
To shed light on the interactions between soil nitrogen (N) and carbon (C), we set up a model “experiment” in silico to test several hypothesized responses of decomposers to N. We found that decomposers were stimulated by N when decomposing high C:N detritus, but inhibited when decomposing low C:N, processed organic C. The consequence is that under exogenous N addition (e.g., contemporary N deposition), forests may accumulate light fraction C predominantly, at the expense of coarse detritus.
To shed light on the interactions between soil nitrogen (N) and carbon (C), we set up a model...
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