The relative contributions of sources of carbon in soils, such as throughfall, litter, roots, microbial decay products and stable organic fractions, to dissolved organic C are controversial. To identify the origin of dissolved organic C, we made use of a 4-year experiment where spruce and beech, growing on an acidic loam and on a calcareous sand, were exposed to increased CO2 that was depleted in 13C. We traced the new C inputs from trees into dissolved organic C, into water-extractable organic C, and into several particle-size fractions. In addition, we incubated the labelled soils for 1 year and measured the production of dissolved organic C and CO2 from new and old soil C. In the soil solutions of the topsoil, the dissolved organic [...]
