Soil carbon dioxide fluxes of a typical broad-leaved/Korean pine mixed forest in Changbai Mountain, China

Abstract

The forest ecosystem plays an important role in the global carbon cycling. A study was conducted to evaluate soil CO2 flux and its seasonal and diurnal variation with the air and soil temperatures by using static closed chamber technique in a typical broad-leaved/Korean pine mixed forest area on the northern slope of Changbai Mountain, Jilin Province, China. The experiment was carried out through the day and night in the growing season (from June to September) in situ and sample gas was analyzed by a gas Chromatograph. Results showed that the forest floor was a large net source of carbon, and soil CO2 fluxes had an obvious law of seasonal and diel variation. The soil CO2 flux of broad-leaved/Korean pine mixed forest was in the range of 0.30–2.42 μmol·m-2·s-1 with the mean value of 0.98 μmol·m-2· s-1. An examination on the seasonal pattern of soil CO2 emission suggested that the variability in soil CO2 flux could be correlated with variations in soil temperature, and the maximum of mean CO2 flux occurred in July ((1.27±23%) μmol·m-2·s-1) and the minimum was in September ((0.50±28%) μmol·m-2·s-1). The fluctuations in diel soil CO2 flux were also correlated with changes in soil temperature; however, there existed a factor for a time lag. Soil CO2 flux from the forest floor was strongly related to soil temperature and had the highest correlation with temperature at 6-cm depth of soil. Q10 values based on air temperature and soil temperature of different soil depths were at the ranges of 2.09–3.40.