A novel ¹³C pulse-labelling method to quantify the contribution of rhizodeposits to soil respiration in a grassland exposed to drought and nitrogen addition

Rhizodeposition plays an important role in below-ground carbon (C) cycling. However, quantification of rhizodeposition in intact plant–soil systems has remained elusive due to methodological issues. We used a ¹³C-CO₂ pulse-labelling method to quantify the contribution of rhizodeposition to below-ground respiration. Intact plant–soil cores were taken from a grassland field, and in half, shoots and roots were removed (unplanted cores). Both unplanted and planted cores were assigned to drought and nitrogen (N) treatments. Afterwards, shoots in planted cores were pulse labelled with ¹³C-CO₂ and then clipped to determine total below-ground respiration and its δ¹³C. Simultaneously, δ¹³C was measured for the respiration of live roots, soils with rhizodeposits, and unplanted treatments, and used as endmembers with which to determine root respiration and rhizodeposit C decomposition using two-source mixing models. Rhizodeposit decomposition accounted for 7–31% of total below-ground respiration. Drought reduced decomposition of both rhizodeposits and soil organic carbon (SOC), while N addition increased root respiration but not the contribution of rhizodeposit C decomposition to below-ground respiration. This study provides a new approach for the partitioning of below-ground respiration into different sources, and indicates that decomposition of rhizodeposit C is an important component of below-ground respiration that is sensitive to drought and N addition in grassland ecosystems.