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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2025-3388</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Novel oxalate-carbonate pathways identified in the tropical dry evergreen forest of Tamil Nadu, India</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Rieder</surname>
<given-names>Camille</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4837-9574</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Verrecchia</surname>
<given-names>Eric P.</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7105-256X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bindschedler</surname>
<given-names>Saskia</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Cailleau</surname>
<given-names>Guillaume</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2842-4919</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Rozin</surname>
<given-names>Aviram</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Anbarashan</surname>
<given-names>Munisamy</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Dasgupta</surname>
<given-names>Shubhendu</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Junier</surname>
<given-names>Thomas</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Roeschli</surname>
<given-names>Nicolas</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Vittoz</surname>
<given-names>Pascal</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Rowley</surname>
<given-names>Mike C.</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2440-7855</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Microbiology Laboratory,   University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, 2000, Switzerland</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Sadhana Forest, Auroville, 605101, Tamil Nadu, India</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Ecology Department, French Institute of Pondicherry, Pondicherry, 605001, India</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne, Vital-IT Group, Lausanne, 1015,  Switzerland</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff6">
<label>6</label>
<addr-line>Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>08</day>
<month>08</month>
<year>2025</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2025</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>35</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2025 Camille Rieder et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2025</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-3388/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-3388/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-3388/egusphere-2025-3388.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-3388/egusphere-2025-3388.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>The tropical dry evergreen forest (TDEF) is a vital but endangered ecosystem in India, crucial for supporting cultural services, biodiversity, and organic carbon storage. The oxalate-carbonate pathway (OCP) is an understudied process in which plants and oxalotrophic microorganisms convert atmospheric CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; into calcium carbonate (CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;) within plant tissues or tree-adjacent soils. Yet, despite its significance, the OCP has not been studied in the TDEF of India. This study aimed to assess novel OCP systems associated with three TDEF diagnostic species (&lt;em&gt;Diospyros ebenum, Lepisanthes tetraphylla&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Sapindus emarginatus&lt;/em&gt;) and one local agroforestry species (&lt;em&gt;Artocarpus heterophyllus&lt;/em&gt;) in the restored- and primary-TDEF of Tamil Nadu. Surface soil samples (0&amp;ndash;10 cm) were collected from an adjacent and control distance away from trees, along with tree biomass samples, and investigated for oxalate production (microscopy and enzymatic assays), oxalotrophic microbial communities (&lt;em&gt;frc&lt;/em&gt; gene sequencing), and tree-induced shifts in soil biogeochemistry. Oxalate was detected in all species (4.4&amp;plusmn;3.2 % dry weight), accompanied by CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3 &lt;/sub&gt;precipitation on biomass. Oxalotrophic microbial communities were dominated by Actinomycetota (86 %), which were also identified in electron micrographs. Soil biogeochemical shifts indicative of active OCPs were also observed, particularly in the hollowed-out trunks of the TDEF trees. However, differences between adjacent and control soils were less pronounced, suggesting that monsoon conditions leached OCP precipitated CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; from the adjacent soils. This research provides the first evidence of active OCPs in Indian TDEF, highlighting a previously unrecognized mechanism for organic and inorganic carbon cycling in this threatened ecosystem.</p>
</abstract>
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