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Coarse Root Enhancement Increases Soil Organic Carbon While Decreasing Its Stability in a Wetland

Zhenghao Liang et al.

Environmental Science & Technology2026https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c09616article
AJG 3
Weight
0.41

What the paper says

Wetland soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration effectively reduces atmospheric CO2. Fractionating SOC into labile particulate organic carbon (POC) and stable mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC) is crucial for predicting its stability. Precipitation-induced variations in coarse (>2 mm) and fine (<2 mm) roots are key regulators of SOC stability, but their specific contributions remain unclear. Here, we conducted a 10-year field simulation of precipitation changes (-60%, -40%, 0%, + 40%, + 60%) in a wetland. We found that increased precipitation enhanced Gramineae abundance, thereby increasing coarse-root biomass, while fine roots changed little. Compared to CK, coarse roots directly boosted topsoil POC (+37.4%) and enhanced MAOC (+31.5%) via microbial stimulation. Furthermore, increased coarse-root biomass was associated with greater vertical transport of DOC and nitrate (NO3-), potentially contributing to higher subsoil POC (+218.7%) and MAOC (+17.2%). With increasing precipitation, the MAOC/POC ratio decreased from 1.65 to 1.11 in the topsoil and from 8.73 to 2.66 in the subsoil, suggesting that coarse roots favored POC over MAOC, increasing SOC but reducing its stability. These results provide mechanistic insights into wetland carbon-climate feedbacks under altered precipitation regimes.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c09616

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@article{zhenghao2026,
  title        = {{Coarse Root Enhancement Increases Soil Organic Carbon While Decreasing Its Stability in a Wetland}},
  author       = {Zhenghao Liang et al.},
  journal      = {Environmental Science & Technology},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c09616},
}

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Coarse Root Enhancement Increases Soil Organic Carbon While Decreasing Its Stability in a Wetland

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Evidence weight

0.41

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.25 × 0.4 = 0.10
M · momentum0.55 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.