A biophysical model to simulate seasonal variations of soil respiration in agroecosystems in China

Abstract

Characterizing the seasonal patterns of soil respiration using a biophysical model is crucial for understanding the mechanisms of the terrestrial carbon (C) cycle. We developed a biophysical soil respiration model including four submodels that were associated with the functions of soil temperature, moisture, leaf area index (LAI), and soil organic C, and the model parameters were determined and calibrated. The modeling reproducibility was examined in various crop fields at our study site, and the modeling performance was also validated in twenty-five other agroecosystems in China. The monthly and annual soil respiration was estimated using the model, and the modeling uncertainty was evaluated. The results showed that the soil respiration model had good modeling reproducibility in various crop fields at our site. The measured soil respiration in the different agroecosystems in China validated our model well. The R2, root mean squared error (RMSE), model efficiency (ME), and mean absolute error (MAE) were within the ranges of 0.449‒0.932, 0.526‒1.465 μmol m−2 s−1, 0.176‒0.796, and 0.312‒1.377 μmol m−2 s−1, respectively, across the twelve agroecosystem sites for validation. The measured soil respiration was significantly (P < 0.001) correlated with the modeled soil respiration across all twenty-six validation sites. Adding LAI significantly improved the modeling of soil respiration when the performance of the model (with LAI) vs. that without LAI was compared. The modeled monthly soil respiration was within the range of 0.016 ± 0.001‒0.117 ± 0.006 Pg C mo−1 in 2010 in agroecosystems in China. The black soils in Northeast China are fertile, which resulted in high temperature sensitivity and a clear increasing tendency of soil respiration from winter to summer in 2010 in agroecosystems in Northeast China. The established biophysical soil respiration model was proven to be effective for characterizing the temporal variations of soil respiration in various agroecosystems in China.