Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109994
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Soil Microbial Metabolism: Insights from Heat, CO2 emission and Isotope Analysis Using a Novel Macrocalorespirometer
Author Di Lodovico, E.; Yang, S. ORCID logo ; Harms, H.; Meyer, M.; Fricke, C.; Schaumann, G.E.; Maskow, T. ORCID logo
Source Titel Soil Biology & Biochemistry
Year 2025
Department MIBITECH; AME
Page From art. 109994
Language englisch
Topic T7 Bioeconomy
Supplements https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0038071725002883-mmc1.pdf
Keywords Calorespirometric ratio; Soil organic matter; Mass spectrometry; Thermogravimetry; Differential scanning calorimetry
Abstract
Soil, as the largest terrestrial carbon sink, plays a pivotal role in the global carbon cycle. Soil microorganisms are fundamental to all biochemical processes in soil, ensuring its fertility and supporting a balanced ecosystem. Through their metabolic activities, these microorganisms drive energy and matter flows, mineralizing organic matter and releasing heat and CO2, which can be measured via calorespirometry. A key limitation of conventional calorimeters lies in their inability to combine high sample throughput with sufficiently large sample sizes while avoiding oxygen limitation during measurement. In order to overcome these weaknesses, we have developed a multi-channel macrocalorespirometer (CR-12) for soil analysis. To demonstrate its application, agricultural soil (Dikopshof, Luvisol) amended with 12C (unlabeled) and 13C (labeled) glucose was used in four experiments. Comparisons with commercial isothermal microcalorimeters confirmed the suitability of CR-12 for soil systems, providing reliable heat, CO2 measurements and calorespirometric ratios that align with known ranges for the aerobic turnover of carbohydrates. To further investigate the incorporation of carbon into the soil organic matter (SOM), a time series of soil samples amended with 13C-labeled glucose was subjected to mass spectrometric analysis (m/z 44 for 12C-CO2; m/z 45 for 13C-CO2) using thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry-quadrupole mass spectrometry (TG-DSC-QMS). The integration of calorespirometric and mass spectrometric data demonstrated that combining these complementary techniques provides more detailed information on the fate of microbial carbon and energy turnover within SOM.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=31422
Di Lodovico, E., Yang, S., Harms, H., Meyer, M., Fricke, C., Schaumann, G.E., Maskow, T. (2025):
Soil Microbial Metabolism: Insights from Heat, CO2 emission and Isotope Analysis Using a Novel Macrocalorespirometer
Soil Biol. Biochem. , art. 109994 10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109994