Fig. 1: Conceptual model and map of study sites. | Nature Communications

Fig. 1: Conceptual model and map of study sites.

From: Fast-decaying plant litter enhances soil carbon in temperate forests but not through microbial physiological traits

Fig. 1

a Conceptual model showing microbe-mediated mechanisms of mineral-associated soil organic carbon (SOC) formation and decay. Pathway 1 represents the necromass stabilization hypothesis and we note that different types of necromass may be differentially susceptible to mineral stabilization. Other numbers represent (2) mineral stabilization of plant inputs without assimilation by microbes, (3) mineral stabilization of microbial extracellular compounds, (4) stimulation of microbe-mediated mineral-associated SOC decay, (5) and the role of soil properties in governing mineral-associated SOC accumulation. b Map of study sites including Wabikon Lake Forest (WLF), Harvard Forest (HF), Lilly-Dickey Woods (LDW), Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI), Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), and Tyson Research Center (TRC).

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