Water-extractable soil carbon in relation to the belowground carbon cycle

We investigated the role of water-extractable carbon (C-extr) as potential substrate for forest soil microorganisms by comparing belowground C fluxes at a plot with the forest floor removed (no-litter) and at a control plot. One-third lower soil respiration rates at the no-litter plot gave evidence that the forest floor was the source of considerable amounts of microbially degradable C. Laboratory incubation of C-extr, fractionated into neutral and acid moieties, showed that part of the C-extr was degraded rapidly, and that the high-molecular-weight acid fraction was much less degradable than the neutral C. To the extent that the degradable portion of the water-extractable C can be regenerated quickly, it may supply much of the substrate for heterotrophic soil respiration. Received: 11 December 1995