Historical land management alters new soil carbon inputs by annual and perennial bioenergy crops

Bioenergy and bioproduct markets are expanding to meet demand for climate friendly goods and services. Perennial biomass crops are particularly well suited for this goal because of their high yields, low input requirements, and potential to increase soil carbon (C). However, it is unclear how much C is allocated into belowground pools by perennial bioenergy crops and whether the belowground benefits vary with nitrogen (N) fertilizer inputs. Using in situ 13C pulse-chase labeling, we tested whether the sterile perennial grass Miscanthus × giganteus (miscanthus) or annual maize transfers more photosynthetic C to belowground pools. The experiment took place at two sites in Central and Northwest (NW) Iowa with different management histories and two nitrogen (N) fertilizer rates (0 and 224 kg N ha-1 yr-1) to determine if the fate of plant-derived soil C depends on soil fertility and crop type (perennial or annual). Maize allocated a greater percentage of total new 13C to roots than misc..., , # Historical land management alters new soil carbon inputs by annual and perennial bioenergy crops

Description of each file and the variables within each file (along with units)

## Files:

### \"Soil C pools\"

contains C data for the four sampled soil zones: bulk, root bulk, near root, and rhizosphere

Variables

* Site = Name of farm. Allee is NW and Sorenson is Central
* Block: experimental block, ranging from 1-4 within a site
* Plot: experimental plot, one unique number across the experimental blocks within a site
* NRate: Nitrogen fertilization rate (0 or 224 kg ha-1 N)
* Crop: corn (maize) or miscanthus
* SoilZone: four categories of soil pools separated at destructive harvest: bulk, root bulk, near root, and rhizosphere
* Soil C: % soil C
* Delta13C: the delta 13C signal of the sample
* New C: the total new carbon (mg C/kg soil) derived from the labeled crop

### \"POM\_MAOM new C\"

contains C data for the rhizosphere soil POM and MAOM pools

Variables

* Site = Name of farm. All...,