Carbon dioxide flux across a forest-field ecotone

Abstract

CO2 flux of a deciduous forest and an old-field surface, and the ecotone between these two typical southern U.S. ecological communities, was studied in July, 1989. Rates of CO2 flux were greatest in the old field and least in the forest plots. The ecotone showed the greatest variation in CO2 flux. These differences appear to be due to differences in soil surface temperature, the old field being more exposed to direct solar radiation. The ecotonal community represents a landscape property which should be considered in studies of the transfer of carbon across the soil-atmosphere boundary.