{"type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [{"id": "10.5061/dryad.pb271", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-05-25T16:21:31Z", "type": "Dataset", "title": "Data from: Interactions among roots, mycorrhizae and free-living microbial communities differentially impact soil carbon processes", "description": "unspecifiedPlant roots, their associated microbial community and free-living soil  microbes interact to regulate the movement of carbon from the soil to the  atmosphere, one of the most important and least understood fluxes of  terrestrial carbon. Our inadequate understanding of how plant\u2013microbial  interactions alter soil carbon decomposition may lead to poor model  predictions of terrestrial carbon feedbacks to the atmosphere. Roots,  mycorrhizal fungi and free-living soil microbes can alter soil carbon  decomposition through exudation of carbon into soil. Exudates of simple  carbon compounds can increase microbial activity because microbes are  typically carbon limited. When both roots and mycorrhizal fungi are  present in the soil, they may additively increase carbon decomposition.  However, when mycorrhizas are isolated from roots, they may limit soil  carbon decomposition by competing with free-living decomposers for  resources. We manipulated the access of roots and mycorrhizal fungi to  soil in situ in a temperate mixed deciduous forest. We added 13C-labelled  substrate to trace metabolized carbon in respiration and measured  carbon-degrading microbial extracellular enzyme activity and soil carbon  pools. We used our data in a mechanistic soil carbon decomposition model  to simulate and compare the effects of root and mycorrhizal fungal  presence on soil carbon dynamics over longer time periods. Contrary to  what we predicted, root and mycorrhizal biomass did not interact to  additively increase microbial activity and soil carbon degradation. The  metabolism of 13C-labelled starch was highest when root biomass was high  and mycorrhizal biomass was low. These results suggest that mycorrhizas  may negatively interact with the free-living microbial community to  influence soil carbon dynamics, a hypothesis supported by our enzyme  results. Our steady-state model simulations suggested that root presence  increased mineral-associated and particulate organic carbon pools, while  mycorrhizal fungal presence had a greater influence on particulate than  mineral-associated organic carbon pools. Synthesis. Our results suggest  that the activity of enzymes involved in organic matter decomposition was  contingent upon root\u2013mycorrhizal\u2013microbial interactions. Using our  experimental data in a decomposition simulation model, we show that  root\u2013mycorrhizal\u2013microbial interactions may have longer-term legacy  effects on soil carbon sequestration. Overall, our study suggests that  roots stimulate microbial activity in the short term, but contribute to  soil carbon storage over longer periods of time.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "roots", "13. Climate action", "simulation model", "carbon dynamics", "Rhizosphere", "stable isotope", "plant-soil (belowground) interactions", "15. Life on land", "extra-cellular enzyme activity", "mycorrhizae"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Moore, Jessica A. M., Jiang, Jiang, Patterson, Courtney M., Wang, Gangsheng, Mayes, Melanie A., Classen, Aim\u00e9e T.,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pb271"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5061/dryad.pb271", "name": "item", "description": "10.5061/dryad.pb271", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5061/dryad.pb271"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2016-09-14T00:00:00Z"}}], "links": [{"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "This document as GeoJSON", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=extra-cellular+enzyme+activity&f=json", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "alternate", "type": "text/html", "title": "This document as HTML", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=extra-cellular+enzyme+activity&f=html", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection URL", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"type": "application/geo+json", "rel": "first", "title": "items (first)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=extra-cellular+enzyme+activity&", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "last", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "items (last)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=extra-cellular+enzyme+activity&offset=1", "hreflang": "en-US"}], "numberMatched": 1, "numberReturned": 1, "distributedFeatures": [], "timeStamp": "2026-05-26T08:07:38.216787Z"}