Carbon dioxide emission from the soil surface in a bilberry-sphagnum pine forest of the Middle Taiga

Abstract

The dynamics of the carbon dioxide emissions from the surface of a gleyic iron-illuvial sandy peat podzolic soil under a mature bilberry-sphagnum pine forest were studied during the growing seasons of 2008–2010. The maximum rates of the CO2 emission were observed in late July-early August, and the minimum rates were in October. In the hot summer of 2010, an additional maximum was observed in June. A close positive correlation existed between the intensity of the CO2 emission and the soil temperature (r = 0.71, α = 0.05), whereas no significant correlation was found between the CO2 emission and the soil water content. The coefficient of multiple correlation between the rate of the CO2 emission and the hydrothermic soil characteristics reached 0.57 (at α = 0.05). The total CO2 emission from the soil surface during the growing season was estimated at 68–100 g of C m−2.