Priming effect increases with depth in a boreal forest soil

Climate warming increases labile carbon (C) inputs to soil through increased photosynthesis and C allocation belowground. This could counterintuitively lead to losses of soil C via priming effects (PE): the stimulation of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition caused by labile C addition. Systematic quantification of PEs in different ecosystems is needed. We measured PEs of free-living soil microbes in different layers of a boreal forest soil, and found that the relative magnitude of the PE increased with soil depth. The relationship between relative PE and the added glucose amount also depended on the soil layer. Our results indicate that the decomposition of SOM in deeper soil layers could be significantly increased due to PE, if labile C inputs into these layers increase. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.