Priming effects on soil organic matter mineralization by carbon substrates: A global meta-analysis

Priming effects (PE) on soil organic matter (SOM) mineralization depend stronglyon the type of carbon substrates added. It is crucial to understand the PE induced by various carbon substrates for predicting SOM dynamics and soil-atmosphere carbon feedback. We conducted a meta-analysis of 8,015 observations from 283 articles to evaluate how carbon substrates (plant residues, root exudates, biochar, and degradable microplastics) regulate the mineralization of SOM through PE.Results demonstrated that all these types of carbon substrates increased SOM mineralization, whichinduceda positive PE. Plant residues induced the highest average PE, followed by root exudates, biochar,and degradable microplastics. Compared to soils without carbon substrate inputs, the rate of SOM mineralization increased by 113% in soil with cellulose-rich non-woody residues, whereas itincreased by only 25% in soil with lignin-rich woody residues. The mineralization of SOM increased by organic acids (151%) was greatest in root exudates, followed by monosaccharides (60%) and polysaccharides (12%). The strongmineralization induced by organicacids was probably related to the release of more mineral nutrients by reducing soil pH. The PE on SOM mineralization by woody biochar with high aromatic carbon content (48%) was greater than that of non-woody biochar with high alkyl carbon content (43%).Microplastics withrapidly degradable polyhydroxyalkanoates induced more SOM mineralization (258%) than polybutylene succinate (61%) and polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate (21%). The SOM priming was positively correlated with soil clay and incubation moisture, andnegatively correlated with soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, soil C:N ratio, dissolved organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, carbon input rate, incubation temperature,and soil depth. These results show that the positive PE isubiquitous in soil ecosystems; itsmagnitude is linked intrinsically to the physicochemical characteristics and source of exogenous carbon substrate.