Yakov Kuzyakov

University of Göttingen | GAUG · Department of Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems

The soil volume affected by roots – the rhizosphere – is one of the most important microbial hotspots determining the processes, dynamics and cycling of carbon (C), nutrients and water in terrestrial ecosystems. Rhizosphere visualization is necessary to understand, localize and quantify the ongoing processes and functions, but quantitative conclusi...

Increasing the potential of soil to store carbon (C) is an acknowledged and emphasized strategy for capturing atmospheric CO2. Well-recognized approaches for soil C accretion include reducing soil disturbance, increasing plant biomass inputs, and enhancing plant diversity. Yet experimental evidence often fails to support anticipated C gains, sugges...

Intensive crop production systems worldwide, particularly in China, rely heavily on nitrogen (N) fertilization, but left more than 50% of it in the environment. Nitrogen (over)fertilization and atmospheric N deposition induce soil acidification, which is neutralized by soil inorganic carbon (SIC; carbonates) and carbon dioxide (CO2) is released to...

Although most organic matter (OM) in soil is mineralized by microorganisms, the nonmicrobial processes, e.g., Fenton reactions and photo-degradation, strongly contribute to OM decomposition and CO2 emission and are frequently the chemical background of biotic transformations. Fenton oxidation is a catalytic reaction chain of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2...

Microbial composition and functions in the rhizosphere-an important microbial hotspot-are among the most fascinating yet elusive topics in microbial ecology. We used 557 pairs of published 16S rDNA amplicon sequences from the bulk soils and rhizosphere in different ecosystems around the world to generalize bacterial characteristics with respect to...

Studies on nitrification, a crucial process of biogeochemical N cycling, have traditionally focused on autotrophic microorganisms. Recent discoveries, however, highlight the importance of heterotrophic nitrification as a key to N cycling, particularly in acidic soils. While molecular approaches have advanced our understanding of the key players in...

Despite the close interactions between carbon (C) and nutrients like nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), the consequences of N fertilization alone or in combination with P and K on soil organic matter (SOM) chemical composition remain unclear. Using solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy data from 45 field studies, we...

Liquid crystal monomers (LCMs), the integral components in the manufacture of digital displays, have engendered environmental concerns due to extensive utilization and intensive emission. Despite their prevalence and ecotoxicity, the LCM impacts on plant growth and agricultural yield remain inadequately understood. In this study, we investigated th...

While biochar effectively reduces greenhouse gas emissions, the coincident microplastics will alter these benefits. To assess the long-term efficacy of biochar application in reducing emissions amidst microplastic interference, we investigated the interactive effects of polyethylene microplastics (1%–5% wt) and decadal biochar addition (aged biocha...

Silicon (Si) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) increase plant resistance to various environmental stresses, including heavy metal (and metalloid) toxicity. Although Si and AMF each independently enhance plant tolerance, the nature of their interactions and their combined impacts on nutrient uptake, especially in the context of toxic elements s...

Microbial carbon (C) use efficiency (CUE) describes the proportion of organic C used by microorganisms for anabolic processes, which increases with soil organic C (SOC) content on a global scale. However, it is unclear whether a similar relationship exists during natural vegetation restoration in terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we investigated the pa...

Soil inorganic C (SIC) has a huge stock and is supplemented by the bicarbonate-rich groundwater, irrigation water and seawater in the coastal Yangtze Delta area, where soil acidification may induce high CO 2 efflux by neutralizing SIC. This study assessed whether and to what extent SIC generally contributed to surface or sub-surface (50 cm) CO 2 co...

Aims Maize/soybean intercropping has many advantages in soil nitrogen (N) use compared with monocultures. However, whether fungi increase the mineralization of soil organic N in intercropping remains unknown. We hypothesized that the fungal-mediated N mineralization in intercropping increases soil mineral N. Methods Soil was sampled in a 13-year fi...

Microbial degradation of organic pollutants is crucial to mitigate environmental risks to wildlife and humans. This capacity hinges on factors such as microbial community composition, environmental conditions, pollutant characteristics, and the presence of metals/metalloids, surfactants, or co-metabolites. Our meta-analyses, covering 3095 data p...

Nitrogen (N) uptake by plant roots from soil is the largest flux within the terrestrial N cycle. Despite its significance, a comprehensive analysis of plant uptake for inorganic and organic N forms across grasslands is lacking. Here we measured in situ plant uptake of 13 inorganic and organic N forms by dominant species along a 3000 km transect spa...

Respiration of soil heterotrophs—mainly of bacteria and fungi—is a substantial part of carbon balance in terrestrial ecosystems, which tie up organic matter decomposition with the rise of atmospheric CO2 concentration. Deep understanding and prediction of seasonal and interannual variation of heterotrophic and autotrophic components of CO2 efflux f...

Fungi are known to be crucial in the formation and stabilization of soil organic matter through their exudates and dead residues (necromass). Yet, it remains unclear how fungi contribute to the persistence of carbon in soils over millennial scales across biomes. Here, this study fills the knowledge gap by linking fungal carbon stocks with minerals...

Abandonment is a strategy applied to increase soil organic C (SOC) in degraded cropland, but such efforts may fail because of microbial N limitation after abandonment in the absence of fertilization. In this study, we investigated the associations between SOC and microbial necromass C (MNC) dynamics in bulk soil and particle-size pools with N avail...

Earthworms build a complex network of stable biopores with diameters of up to 0.5 cm existing over years and decades in soil. Besides the direct habitat and pathway functions for the earthworms, the biopores strongly accelerate the diffusion and migration of gases, solutions, nutrients, and organic substances, as well as mineral particles within th...

Earthworms have well-documented beneficial influences on plant growth and soil processes. The earthworm’s capacity to decomposition of organic matter has been associated with the microbial communities residing in their digestive tracts or constructed structures, which serve as hotspots for microbial and enzymatic activities. Nevertheless, it is sti...

Earthworms are known to modify soil structure and alter the physicochemical and biological regimes of soils. Both laboratory and field experiments confirmed the effects of earthworms on soil characteristics, which may be physical, chemical, biological, or a combination of all three. Earthworms through their vital activities such as feeding, burrowi...

Intensification of farming since the Green Revolution has led to large increases in yield but has also increased anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Here, by providing a global comprehensive cradle-to-gate quantification from seed to yield, we show that the global warming potential (GWP) of conventional agriculture of grain crops has increased...

Rice paddies account for approximately 9% of human‐induced methane (CH 4 ) emissions. Nitrogen (N) fertilization affects CH 4 emissions from paddy soils through several mechanisms, leading to conflicting results in field experiments. The primary drivers of these N‐related effects remain unclear and the contribution of N fertilization to CH 4 emissi...

Biodegradable microplastics (MPs), which are starting to be used in large quantities in croplands, may affect the mineralization of soil organic carbon (SOC). These priming effects induced by biodegradable MPs are a very new issue, and their mechanisms as well as consequences for various soils are nearly unknown. Using stable carbon isotope signatu...

Inorganic carbon is an important component of soil carbon stocks, exerting a profound influence on climate change and ecosystem functioning. Drylands account for approximately 80% of the global soil inorganic carbon (SIC) pool within the top 200 cm. Despite its paramount importance, the components of SIC and their contributions to CO 2 fluxes have...

The interplay between genotype and nutrient management influences plant rhizodeposition, modulating the plant-microbiome associations and microbe-mediated functions in rhizosphere. Substituting mineral nitrogen (N) with an N-fixing inoculant reduces reliance on N fertilizer while supplying N to crops. We explored how teosinte-maize near-isogenic li...

The interplay between plant genotype and nutrient management affects rhizodeposition, which in turn modulates the rhizosphere-microbiome and microbe-mediated functions. Substituting mineral nitrogen (N) with an N-fixing inoculant reduces reliance on N fertilizer while supplying N to crops. We evaluated the effectiveness of integrating maize near-is...

The study aimed to develop a methodological framework to identify forest ecosystems affected by wildfires and evaluate their recovery chronologically. To do this remote sensing analysis, sites with burn scars were selected based on various criteria (fire severity, affected area, vegetation and soil type, slope, aspect, and one-time occurrence of wi...

Aim Significant progress has been made in understanding the links between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in both experimental and real-world ecosystems. Yet, we have limited understanding to which extent biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning in natural heterogeneous environments and whether changes in ecosystem functions are related to...

Aim Symbiotic interactions between roots and mycorrhiza drive plant coexistence, yet the roles of the common mycorrhizal network (CMNs) between plant species remain poorly understood. Methods We conducted a compartmented microcosm experiment to assess AMF effects on the coexistence of mixed legumes (Medicago sativa or Trifolium repens) with grasse...

Priming effects of soil organic matter decomposition are critical to determine carbon budget and turnover in soil. Yet, the overall direction and intensity of soil priming remains under debate. A second-order meta-analysis was performed with 9296-paired observations from 363 primary studies to determine the intensity and general direction of primin...

Contamination of agricultural soils with heavy metal(loid)s like arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) is an ever-increasing concern for crop production, quality, and global food security. Numerous in-situ and ex-situ remediation approaches have been developed to reduce As and Cd contamination in soils. However, field-scale applications of conventional rem...

Soil respiration (Rs) is projected to be substantially affected by climate change, impacting the storage, equilibrium, and movement of terrestrial carbon (C). However, uncertainties surrounding the responses of Rs to climate change (precipitation and warming) and nitrogen (N) deposition are linked to mechanisms specific to diverse climate zones not...

Terrestrial ecosystem respiration increases exponentially with temperature, constituting a positive feedback loop accelerating global warming. However, the response of ecosystem respiration to temperature strongly depends on water availability, yet where and when the water effects are important, is presently poorly constrained, introducing uncertai...

Arctic soils store 49 Gg mercury (Hg) – an extremely toxic heavy metal, whereas soil Hg can be released to the atmosphere by wildfires. For the first time we investigated the effects of wildfires on the fate of soil Hg in North-Western (NW) Siberia based on GIS maps of areas burned during the last 38 years and a field paired comparison of unburned...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) influence silicon (Si) uptake by plants, but the mechanisms remain unclear. This study investigated the mechanisms of AMF-mediated Si uptake by rice, a model Si-accumulating plant, and explored the tripartite interactions among AMF, Si, and phosphorus (P). AMF inoculation increased shoot Si content by 97% when sup...

Context or Problem Numerous studies have demonstrated that biochar application can increase crop yield by improving soil properties and health. Yet, these studies, however, neglected how biochar alters yield variability across years – reflecting the yield stability. Objective or Research question This study aimed to investigate the effects of bioc...

Approximately 220 million hectares of former croplands are abandoned worldwide, with a quarter of this area located in Russia. In these areas, natural zonal vegetation is developing, and the soils, including soil carbon (C) stocks, are recovering. Accumulated organic C serves as a structural and energetic source for soil microorganisms. Postagricul...

The microbial process of soil organic matter (SOM) mineralization changes with vegetation succession and is influenced by litter input, nutrient acquisition, and microbial communities shifts. However, the mechanisms underlying this process at various depths during long-term vegetation succession remain unknown. In this study, we investigated these...

Anthropogenic activities have raised nitrogen (N) input worldwide with profound implications for soil carbon (C) cycling in ecosystems. The specific impacts of N input on soil organic matter (SOM) pools differing in microbial availability remain debatable. For the first time, we used a much‐improved approach by effectively combining the ¹³ C natura...

In their Letter‐to‐Editor, Liu & Chen (2024) raised the importance and suitability of our recent stoichiometric approach to assess the contribution of plant residue (litter) and microbial sources to mineral‐associated organic matter (MAOM). We highly appreciate their Letter as well as the further suggestion and comments and offer two points of clar...

Ecological services provided by forest plantations depend on soil biodiversity, which encompasses taxonomic and functional diversity. These diversity components may respond specifically to environmental changes with consequences for soil functions. Given the large differences in plant-derived resource input between coniferous and broadleaved planta...

Coastal wetlands are key players in mitigating global climate change by sequestering soil organic matter. Soil organic matter consists of less stable particulate organic matter (POM) and more stable mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM). The distribution and drivers of MAOM and POM in coastal wetlands have received little attention, despite the...

Wildfires in the north circumpolar region are increasing in response to global warming and raised precipitation irregularity. Beside the short-time effects of wildfires on carbon (C) cycle by CO2 boost, the decreased amounts and availability of remaining organic matter slow down microbial decomposition over mid- and long-term. Our objective was to...

Priming of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition by microorganisms is a key phenomenon of global carbon (C) cycling. Soil pH is a main factor defining priming effects (PEs) because it (i) controls microbial community composition and activities, including enzyme activities, (ii) defines SOM stabilization and destabilization mechanisms, and (iii) r...

Understanding the mechanisms of soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration in forests is vital to ecosystem carbon budgeting and helps gain insight in the functioning and sustainable management of world forests. An explicit knowledge of the mechanisms driving global SOC sequestration in forests is still lacking because of the complex interplays betwee...

Background and aims Despite the importance of the rice rhizosphere microbiota for soil functions and crop productivity, little is known about the differences in the diversity, structure, and functions of these communities compared to surrounding bulk soils and these effects on a broad scale. Methods We compared archaeal and bacterial community div...

Two main challenges which human society faces for sustainable development goals are the maintenance of food security and mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Here, we examined the impacts of six fertilization treatments including unfertilized control (CK), mineral nitrogen (N, 90 kg N ha−1), mineral N plus 30 kg P ha−1 phosphorus (NP), NP...

The priming effect (PE) is a globally important regulator of soil organic matter (SOM) turnover that closely correlates with N availability. PE intensity is usually higher under N-limited conditions and lower under N inputs, but this relationship may depend on temperature. To investigate whether temperature influences the role of N availability in...

The soil microbial carbon pump (MCP) is increasingly acknowledged as being directly linked to soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation and stability. Given the close coupling of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles and the constraints imposed by their stoichiometry on microbial growth, N addition might affect microbial growth strategies with potential...

Nitrogen (N) is a crucial nutrient for the growth and activity of rhizosphere microorganisms, particularly during drought conditions. Plant root-secreted mucilage contains N that could potentially nourish rhizosphere microbial communities. However, there remains a significant gap in understanding mucilage N content, its source, and its utilization...

Microplastics threaten soil ecosystems, strongly influencing carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) contents. Interactions between microplastic properties and climatic and edaphic factors are poorly understood. We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the interactive effects of microplastic properties (type, shape, size, and content), native soil properties (te...

Fertilization is crucial for increasing crop productivity and it alters soil microbial biomass and activities. These alterations exert implications for soil carbon (C) stocks, primarily through the priming effect (PE). Here, we investigated the mechanisms underlying PE and their impact on soil C stocks in paddy soils subjected to long-term (31 year...

Elucidating complex interactions between bacteria and fungi that determine microbial community structure, composition, and functions in soil, as well as regulate carbon (C) and nutrient fluxes, is crucial to understand biogeochemical cycles. Among the various interactions, competition for resources is the main factor determining the adaptation and...