Respiration of an Andosol under different land uses

Abstract

Soil respiration is one of the main sources of CO₂ emissions in the soil, making itvulnerable to any change. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect ofthe change in land use from forestry to agriculture on soil respiration, moisture andtemperature. Soil respiration was determined using the closed dynamic chambermethod, soil temperature was determined with a sensor (STP-1) and soil moisturecontent was determined by the gravimetric method. The Kruskal-Wallis test showedsignificant differences for the variables soil respiration and temperature betweenland uses, while soil moisture did not show significant differences (p>0.05). Ingeneral, CO₂ flux values in the morning (3.42 to 10.66 μmol CO₂ m⁻²s⁻¹) were lowerfor all sampling dates and land uses compared to values observed in the afternoon(3.84 to 10.66 μmol CO₂ m⁻²s⁻¹) 19.97 μmol CO₂ m⁻²s⁻¹). The evaluation of thebiological activity of Andosol can establish diagnostic criteria to evaluate theimpacts due to land use change.