Lack of Correlation between Turnover of Low-Molecular-Weight Dissolved Organic Carbon and Differences in Microbial Community Composition or Growth across a Soil pH Gradient

We studied how soil pH (pHs 4 to 8) influenced the mineralization of low-molecular-weight (LMW)-dissolved organic carbon (DOC) compounds, and how this compared with differences in microbial community structure. The mineralization of LMW-DOC compounds was not systematically connected to differences in soil pH, consistent with soil respiration. In contrast, the microbial community compositions differed dramatically. This suggests that microbial community composition data will be of limited use in improving the predictive power of soil C models.