Figure 5. Standardized effects derived from the structural equation modeling (SEM).

(a) Direct effects and (b) indirect effects of soil moisture (green bars), pH (purple bars), C recalcitrance (Carbon; yellow bars, first components from a PCA conducted with cutin-derived components, suberin-derived components, lignin cinnamyl units, C:N, fast C pool size and slow C pool size) and soil microbial community (MC; grey bars, first component from a PCA conducted with total PLFAs, fungal PLFAs, actinomycete PLFAs, and the fungi/bacteria ratio) on soil CO₂–C release from SEM. The soil moisture data used in the SEM were the moisture in the field rather than that during incubation. The numbers adjacent to bar are the standardized coefficients in SEM.