Seasonal variation of soil respiration under different land use/land cover in arid region

Abstract

Through combining the soil respiration with the main environmental factors under the planting shelterbelt (Populus woodland) and the natural desert vegetation (Tamarix ramosissima+Phragmites communis community and Haloxylon ammodendron community) in the western Junngar Basin, the difference in soil respiration under different land use/land cover types and the responses of soil respiration to temperature and soil moisture were analyzed. Results showed that the rate of soil respiration increased with temperature. During the daytime, the maximum soil respiration rate occurred at 18:00 for the Populus woodland, 12:00 for T. ramosissima+Ph. communis community, and 14:00 for H. ammodendron community, while the minimum rate all occurred at 8:00. The soil respiration, with the maximum rate in June and July and then declining from August, exhibited a similar trend to the near-surface temperature from May to October. During the growing season, the mean soil respiration rates and seasonal variation differed among the land use/land cover types, and followed the order of Populus woodland > T. ramosissima+Ph. communis community > H. ammodendron community. The difference in the soil respiration rate among different land use/land cover types was significant. The soil respiration of Pouplus woodland was significantly correlated with the near-surface temperature and soil temperature at 10 cm depth (P<0.01) in an exponential manner. The soil respiration of T. ramosissima+Ph. communis and H. ammodendron communities were all linearly correlated with the near-surface temperature and soil surface temperature (P<0.01). Based on the near-surface temperature, the calculated Q10 of Populus woodland, T. ramosissima+Ph. communis community and H. ammodendron community were 1.48, 1.59 and 1.63, respectively. The integrated soil respiration of the three land use/land cover types showed a significant correlation with the soil moisture at 0–5 cm, 5–15 cm and 0–15 cm depths (P<0.01). The quadratic model could best describe the relationship between soil respiration and soil moisture at 0–5 cm depth (P<0.01).