Redwood Reader

This is Mattias Rilligs Final Report to the Department of Energy concerning his studies on glomalin. This is a short downloadable document in .PDF format summarizing about a dozen peer reviewed studies all centered around glomalin. He works out of the University of Montana in collaboration with many folks.
For our studies almost all the glomalin work is concentrated either here or in USDA SAR releases. I have said it is a relatively easy concept to grasp, and faithful readers will see many of my claims are based on peer reviewed science, especially concerning soil carbon storage as a key component of soil stability.
It is unfortunate that the decomposition issue was not funded because that is where we can converge with Redwood Sciences Labs studies that showed the actual swelling of the ground after rain events, which ability would be lost as the glomalin decomposes creating the very conditions they are studying. If we picture glomalin as a glue or biofilm then 5% of soil carbon could be seen as a serious soil stabilizer in steep wet conditions with poor soil cohesion, which becomes sediment when mobilized into watercourses.
The work here ties into the PNW Forest Mycology teams work as to species and abundance of fungi in forests. We need the final documentation that ectomycorhizzia produce this structural component like arbuscular mycorhizzia, as reported by Dan Wheeler from Dr. James Trappe, a contributor to the team. We should be able to establish production rates and find management practices that retain this ability. Surface water storage is likely to become more important as temperatures rise and snowmelt will be less available later in the year. We need a method to determine general abundance, like ground radar or correlation with vegetation maps and/or photos, this documents carbon storage and water capacity for planning and even markets.
We can also see the critical importance of temperate forests as carbon sinks, since the turnover rate increases with soil temperature. This has many implications for land use as well. The importance of shade in controlling soil temperature is overlooked in many management schemes, yet we see higher degradation rates in warmer soils. This means even under perfect conditions net storage will also be affected by surface temperature. Yet warmer temperatures are pushing the green line north and a vast new area is starting to capture carbon at an elevated rate, possibly offsetting higher decomposition rates in lower latitiudes. Nevertheless, many of the ideas in this blog are being proven and published. Great thanks to Mr. Rillig for his insight and persistence.
Glomalin as a hyphal residue rather than exudates helps us get a clearer picture of abundance across species lines and distribution in all terrestrial vegetative systems and spread of biologically conditioned soils in a recovering landscape. As a basic component of fungal structure it stretches across all continents, ecosystems and back in time 400 million years. Another point is differing deposition rates associated with differing plants. This just implies community to me, with many more questions to settle. Do some plants make one type of glomalin? Do they have fewer associated species, or rates of abundance, of fungi? We have postulated a community pool with a percentage of glomalin decaying, and newer specialist species filling spaces opportunistically but all contributing to the ecosystems overall health through glomalin deposition. We would suspect late stage species dominate the landscape through pheromones that control the spores of the many fungi associated with the initial stages of seedling growth. When this is disturbed the more numerous species associated with younger trees emerge to restore prime conditions in the soil and the canopy. Once the trees start to shade the ground subsoil deposition and soil conditioning by mycorhizzia begins in earnest to restore ground water storage. The nature of glomalin shows it creates space for the water but does not absorb or bind it, thus making it available in the biological zones but also subject to gravity. The longer an area is allowed to grow the better developed its water storage capacity in the root zone.
While the affinity for glomalin with natural areas is established clearly in the article, implications to us are paramount. Even without decomposition studies it is clear sediment is mobilized rapidly when exposed to running water or direct sunlight. A recent PBS show about the Scablands in Eastern Wahingrton were proven to be carved in a single massive event when a lake broke out a wall of an ice dam flooding the entire region below, leaving a carved landscape previously believed slowly carved by wind and water. We see the same patterns of particle removal in tiny little eroding rills as in entire watersheds.
Nature uses scale in many ways. On the same show scour was discussed and I stand corrected. As the Scopac commenter wrote, dcour is caused by high water. I said my experience is that rain fills pools in. The explanation lies in the exact nature of scour. Explained as the result of increased water rushing over obstacles causeds bubbles to form and create a tail from the obstacle downstream. The force of the flow causes the bubbles to a spiral, while the bubbles themselves are collapsing with tremendous energy. Once the vortex of bubbles is established it can break free of its source, turning upright to the streambed and digging holes in the bed with the energy of the collapsing bubbles and the debris being carried downstream. This insight also gives us insight and we can see why instream techniques create habitat, and that banks are probably more stripped than scoured.