Tracing carbon flow through a sugar maple forest and its soil components: role of invasive earthworms

We conducted a suite of tracer studies using the stable isotope 13C to follow and quantify flow carbon from leaf litter roots into soil components including aggregates biota with without invasive earthworms. Ten-year-old saplings sugar maple growing in understory thinned northern hardwood forest were labeled 13CO2. The was applied plots earthworms (Lumbricidae) traced for three years. also label trees through labeling chambers. Labeled fine stem wood incubated quantified over six years decomposition. able detect 10 cm depth 20 present, promoted C incorporation aggregates. food web much more enriched than aboveground plant litter.. Rapid root decay observed (k = 0.9 yr−1), although labelled almost completely decayed, little recovered (0.33%). approach successful quantifying transport fate tree soils could be enhanced careful quantification gross assimilation.