The role of fungal communities in controlling mobilization of organic carbon and iron from forest soils

The aim of this project is to understand how fungal communities influence the mobilization of Fe and DOC from forest soils. Coniferous afforestation has been shown to contribute significantly in terrestrial export of Fe and DOC and the subsequent browning of freshwaters. This may link to the differences in fungal communities that dominate each vegetation type and also the practice of peatland ditching for promoting forestry, which enhances saprotrophic and mycorrhizal fungi activity. It is expected that fungal activity and differences in fungal community composition have a strong impact on decomposition strategies, thus influencing the leakage of DOC and Fe to surface waters. Studies will be based on both field work and laboratory studies, to inform both about relevance on the environmental scale and more mechanistic support. Synchrotron-based imaging and spectroscopy of wood/soil/soil solution will monitor structural and chemical modification during fungal decomposition. Complementary vibrational spectroscopic techniques will track decomposition and mobilization. Beamtime is always a limiting factor, and sub-projects will be designed to include but not to depend on XAS data.