HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Treseder, K. K. Articles by Turner, K. M. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Treseder, K. K. Articles by Turner, K. M. GeoRef GeoRef Citation Agricola Articles by Treseder, K. K. Articles by Turner, K. M. Related Collections Carbon Sequestration Ecosystem Management Soil Biology

REVIEW & ANALYSIS

Glomalin in Ecosystems

^a Dep. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Univ. of California, Irvine, CA 92697
^b Dep. of Biological Sciences, Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA 94305

^* Corresponding author (treseder{at}uci.edu).

Glomalin is an abundant soil glycoprotein that could sequester substantial amounts of C and N on a global scale. Nevertheless, major controls over the distribution of this compound in ecosystems are little understood. We reviewed shifts in the production, decomposition, and standing stocks of soil glomalin in response to arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) communities, plant dynamics, inorganic resources (e.g., N, P, and atmospheric CO₂), and land use regimes. We also conducted a literature survey of glomalin concentrations from 22 ecosystems to test for relationships between standing stocks of glomalin and net primary productivity (NPP) and AM abundance. Globally, glomalin stocks were positively correlated with NPP but not with AM abundance. Rates of NPP may impose an upper bound for C available to AM fungi for glomalin construction. Availability of C to AM fungi appears to consistently influence glomalin dynamics in individual studies as well. Glomalin stocks are often greater where AM host plants are more abundant or are more effective hosts for the fungi (implying that more C is allocated to the fungi). In addition, elevated CO₂ frequently increases glomalin concentrations in soil. Other inorganic resources and land use change produce inconsistent effects on glomalin stocks. Overall, glomalin dynamics appear to be linked to C dynamics, and this relationship may allow us to better predict the contribution of glomalin to ecosystem feedbacks on global change.

Abbreviations: AM, arbuscular mycorrhizal • BRSP, Bradford reactive soil protein • EE-BRSP, easily extractible Bradford reactive soil protein • EE-IRSP, easily extractable immunoreactive soil protein • ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay • IRSP, immunoreactive soil protein • NPP, net primary productivity