Soil CO2 Efflux Research Articles

Negative effect of nitrogen addition on soil respiration dependent on stand age: Evidence from a 7-year field study of larch plantations in northern China

Increasing anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition will affect the global carbon (C) cycle, although the mechanisms and magnitudes of its effects are not yet fully understood. Soil respiration (Rs) and its components (i.e., heterotrophic (Rh) and autotrophic (Ra) respiration) represent the largest flux of carbon dioxide (CO2) from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere. However, the potentially interactive effect of N addition and stand age on Rs in forests remains unclear. We conducted a 7-year (2010–2016) field experiment in three differently-aged larch plantations (11-, 20-, and 45-year-old, representing sapling, intermediate, and mature stands) to investigate the effects of different N addition rates (control: no N addition; low-N addition, N20: 20 kg N ha−1 year−1; and high-N addition, N50: 50 kg N ha−1 year−1) on Rs. We found significant seasonal variation in Rs, Rh, and Ra, with levels highest in summer and lowest in autumn. Rs correlated strongly with soil temperature and weakly with soil moisture, and Rs, Rh, and Ra increased exponentially with soil temperature. The temperature sensitivity (Q10) of Rs was lowest in the mature stand, which suggests that it will sequester relatively more C in a warmer climate. The Q10 of Ra was higher than that of Rh, indicating that it contributed proportionally more to the total soil CO2 efflux. N addition had no significant effect on Q10. Rs in the intermediate stand was significantly lower than Rs in the sapling and mature stands, which may be due to its lower soil temperature and poorer substrate quality. N addition decreased Rs by an average of 9%, but significant effects were only observed in the sapling and intermediate stands. The negative influence of N addition on Rs was largely dependent on soil temperature, with more negative effects observed in the summer when temperatures were higher, and attributable to a reduction in either Ra in the intermediate stand or Rh in the sapling stand. We hypothesize that N limitation in the young trees was alleviated by fertilization, which decreased C allocation to roots, whereas N addition may have exerted a more negative influence on soil microbial activity in the sapling stand. In summary, our results highlight the importance of stand age in regulating the negative effects of N addition on Rs and its components, which has implications for projecting the global C–climate feedback in the future.

Respiratory costs of woody tissues in a Quercus pyrenaica coppice

Long-term coppicing leads to the development of massive root systems. A disproportionate carbon investment in root maintenance has been pointed as a cause of the widespread decline of abandoned coppices. We aimed at assessing how coppicing has influenced root and shoot development and related carbon loss ascribed to maintenance of woody tissues in Quercus pyrenaica. For this goal, results from published studies on root dynamics, woody biomass and respired CO2 fluxes in an abandoned Q. pyrenaica coppice were integrated and extended to quantify overall respiratory expenditures of above- and below-ground woody organs. Internal and external CO2 fluxes together with soil CO2 efflux were monitored in eight stems from one clone across a growing season. Stems and roots were later harvested to quantify the functional biomass and scale up root and stem respiration (RR and RS, respectively) to the clone and stand levels. Below- and above-ground biomass was roughly equal. However, the root-to-shoot ratio of respiration (RR/RS) was generally below one. Relatively higher RS suggests enhanced metabolic activity aboveground during the growing season, and highlights an unexpected but substantial contribution of RS to respiratory carbon losses. Moreover, soil and stem CO2 efflux to the atmosphere in Q. pyrenaica fell in the upper range of reported rates for various forest stands distributed worldwide. We conclude that both RS and RR represent an important carbon sink in this Q. pyrenaica abandoned coppice. Comparatively high energetic costs in maintaining multiple stems per tree and centennial root systems might constrain aboveground performance and contribute to coppice stagnation.

Strong root respiration response to nitrogen and phosphorus addition in nitrogen-limited temperate forests

Nutrient availability is one of the key regulator of the global forest carbon balance. The use of fossil fuels and fertilizers has increased the amount of biologically reactive nitrogen (N) in recent decades and N fertilization also changes the availability of other nutrients such as phosphorous (P) and potassium (K). The increased soil nutrient availability is known to stimulate forest growth, but we currently lack comprehensive understanding of the response of soil respiration and its three components (roots, microbes, and ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi) to the increased soil N, P and K availability. We conducted a 4-year field fertilization experiment with N, P and K addition in an N-limited temperate forest and separated ECM fungi respiration (Rm), root respiration (Rr) and heterotrophic microbial respiration (Rh) from total soil respiration. Our results showed that Rr increased with N and P addition while Rh and Rm did not respond to nutrient addition. Rm, Rr and Rh varied substantially from year to year, but their responses to nutrient addition did not fluctuate in different years. Our results indicate that in N-limited forest ecosystems, Rh and Rm may not respond substantially to future changes in nutrient addition and that inter-annual variation in climate may be the determinant of soil CO2 efflux in response to global changes.

Influence of soil–water content on CO2 efflux within the elevation transect heavily impacted by erosion

AbstractThis study focused on the effects of organic carbon contents and soil hydraulic conditions on CO2 efflux. Samples were collected at 5 positions (summit, shoulder, backslope, footslope, and toeslope) of the elevation transect affected by erosion and the parent material (loess). Initially, air‐dried soil samples were placed on top of a clay tank, and the samples were wetted by capillary rise to soil saturation, and soil CO2 efflux was measured. Numerical inversions of the measured cumulative capillary rise and evaporation data using the HYDRUS‐1D program were applied to simulate the water regime in the columns and estimate the soil hydraulic parameters. In all cases, the net CO2 efflux (NCER) rapidly increased at the beginning of the wetting. NCER decreased with increasing soil–water content (summit, shoulder, backslope, and loess) or remained relatively stable (footslope and toeslope). The average soil–water content values at the maximal values of NCER (maxNCER) for the summit, shoulder, and footslope were similar. Lower average soil–water contents at maxNCER were simulated for the backslope, toeslope, and loess, which were attributed to the high contents of loess substrate in topsoil samples. The maxNCER measured on topsoils were closely related to the organic carbon contents (R = 0.94) and the maxNCER obtained on all samples correlated with the parameters αRES (R = 0.856) and nRES (R = −0.876) of the soil–water retention curves and saturated hydraulic conductivity (R = 0.856).

Separation of soil respiration: a site-specific comparison of partition methods

Abstract. Without accurate data on soil heterotrophic respiration (Rh), assessments of soil carbon (C) sequestration rate and C balance are challenging to produce. Accordingly, it is essential to determine the contribution of the different sources of the total soil CO2 efflux (Rs) in different ecosystems, but to date, there are still many uncertainties and unknowns regarding the soil respiration partitioning procedures currently available. This study compared the suitability and relative accuracy of five different Rs partitioning methods in a subtropical forest: (1) regression between root biomass and CO2 efflux, (2) lab incubations with minimally disturbed soil microcosm cores, (3) root exclusion bags with hand-sorted roots, (4) root exclusion bags with intact soil blocks and (5) soil δ13C–CO2 natural abundance. The relationship between Rh and soil moisture and temperature was also investigated. A qualitative evaluation table of the partition methods with five performance parameters was produced. The Rs was measured weekly from 3 February to 19 April 2017 and found to average 6.1 ± 0.3 MgCha-1yr-1. During this period, the Rh measured with the in situ mesh bags with intact soil blocks and hand-sorted roots was estimated to contribute 49 ± 7 and 79 ± 3 % of Rs, respectively. The Rh percentages estimated with the root biomass regression, microcosm incubation and δ13C–CO2 natural abundance were 54 ± 41, 8–17 and 61 ± 39 %, respectively. Overall, no systematically superior or inferior Rs partition method was found. The paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each technique with the conclusion that combining two or more methods optimizes Rh assessment reliability.

Soil Respiration and Biogenic Carbon Dioxide Sink in the Territory of Russia: An Analytical Review

Studies on the assessment of soil respiration and ecosystem CO2 sink in the territory of Russia are reviewed over the period since the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Rio de Janeiro, 1992). The first estimates of total soil respiration in the entire territory of Russia, made in 1995 to 1998, amount to 3.1 and 4.3 Gt C per growing season and per year, respectively. On average, soil CO2 efflux over the cold season (November–March) accounts for 20–30% of annual efflux. The contribution of heterotrophic respiration (R H ) to the total soil respiration (R S ) may reach 30–70%, depending on ecosystem type. Despite differences in methods used to measure R H , the results obtained by different authors vary within a relatively narrow range, from 2.9 to 3.5 Gt C/year at an uncertainty level of about 20%. The soil cover of Russia (11.7% of the global land area) accounts for 6.3% of global soil CO2 efflux. The data on ecosystem CO2 sink are widely scattered among publications. Estimates of carbon balance differ depending on approaches and methods used to determine its individual components and the level of uncertainty in the results. However, most of them confirm the main conclusion: the territory of Russia with its forests is an absolute CO2 sink with a potential of 200 Mt C/year. This conclusion has been corroborated in the absolute majority of studies performed by Russian and international research teams.

Three years of soil respiration in a mature eucalypt woodland exposed to atmospheric CO2 enrichment

The rate of CO2 diffusion from soils to the atmosphere (soil CO2 efflux, soil respiration; Rsoil) reflects the integrated activity of roots and microbes and is among the largest fluxes of the terrestrial global C cycle. Most experiments have demonstrated that Rsoil increases by 20–35% following the exposure of an ecosystem to an atmosphere enriched in CO2 (i.e., eCO2), but such experiments have largely been performed in young and N-limited ecosystems. Here, we exposed a mature and phosphorus-limited eucalypt woodland to eCO2 and measured Rsoil across three full years with a combination of manual surveys and automated measurements. We also implemented an empirical model describing the dependence of Rsoil on volumetric soil water content (θ) and soil temperature (Tsoil) to produce annual Rsoil flux estimates. Rsoil varied strongly with Tsoil, θ, and precipitation in complex and interacting ways. The realized long-term (weeks to years) temperature dependence (Q10) of Rsoil increased from ~ 1.6 at low θ up to ~ 3 at high θ. Additionally, Rsoil responded strongly and rapidly to precipitation events in a manner that depended on the conditions of θ and Tsoil at the beginning of the rain event; Rsoil increased by up to 300% within 30 min when rain fell on dry soil that had not experience rain in the preceding week, but Rsoil was rapidly reduced by up to 70% when rain fell on wet soil, leading to flooding. Repeated measures analysis of Rsoil observations over 3 years indicated no significant change in response to CO2 enrichment (P = 0.7), and elevated CO2 did not alter the dependence of Rsoil on Tsoil or θ. However, eCO2 increased Rsoil observations by ~ 10% under some constrained and moderate environmental conditions. Annual Rsoil flux sums estimated with an empirical model were ~ 7% higher in eCO2 plots than in aCO2 plots, but this difference was not statistically significant. The lack of a large eCO2 effect on Rsoil is consistent with recent evidence that aboveground net primary production was not stimulated by eCO2 in this ecosystem. The C budget of this mature woodland may be less affected by eCO2 than the young N-limited ecosystems that have been studied previously.

Precipitation alters plastic film mulching impacts on soil respiration in an arid area of northwest China

Abstract. Plastic film mulching (PFM) has widely been used around the world to save water and improve crop yield. However, the effect of PFM on soil respiration (Rs) remains unclear and could be further confounded by irrigation and precipitation. To address these topics, controlled experiments were conducted in mulched and non-mulched fields under drip irrigation from 2014 to 2016 in an arid area of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China. The spatio-temporal pattern of soil surface CO2 flux as an index of soil respiration under drip irrigation with PFM was investigated, and the confounded effects of PFM and irrigation/precipitation on soil respiration were explored. The main findings were as follows. (1) Furrows, planting holes, and plastic mulch are three important pathways of soil CO2 emissions in mulched fields, of which the planting hole efflux outweighs that from the furrow, with the largest values of 8.0 and 6.6 µmol m−2 s−1, respectively, and the plastic mulch itself can emit up to 3.6 µmol m−2 s−1 of CO2. (2) The frequent application of water (i.e. through irrigation and precipitation) elevates soil moisture and soil respiration and enhances their variation. The resultant higher variation of soil moisture further alleviates the sensitivity of soil respiration to soil temperature, leading to a weak correlation and lower Q10 values. (3) Soil CO2 effluxes from furrows and ridges in mulched fields outweigh the corresponding values in non-mulched fields in arid areas. However, this outweighing relation attenuates with increasing precipitation. Furthermore, by combining our results with those from the literature, we show that the difference in soil CO2 effluxes between non-mulched and mulched fields presents a linear relation with the amount of precipitation, which results in negative values in arid areas and positive values in humid areas. Therefore, whether PFM increases soil respiration or not depends on the amount of precipitation during the crop-growing season.

Impacts of fire on sources of soil CO2 efflux in a dry Amazon rain forest.

Fire at the dry southern margin of the Amazon rainforest could have major consequences for regional soil carbon (C) storage and ecosystem carbon dioxide (CO2 ) emissions, but relatively little information exists about impacts of fire on soil C cycling within this sensitive ecotone. We measured CO2 effluxes from different soil components (ground surface litter, roots, mycorrhizae, soil organic matter) at a large-scale burn experiment designed to simulate a severe but realistic potential future scenario for the region (Fire plot) in Mato Grosso, Brazil, over 1year, and compared these measurements to replicated data from a nearby, unmodified Control plot. After four burns over 5years, soil CO2 efflux (Rs ) was ~5.5t Cha-1 year-1 lower on the Fire plot compared to the Control. Most of the Fire plot Rs reduction was specifically due to lower ground surface litter and root respiration. Mycorrhizal respiration on both plots was around ~20% of Rs . Soil surface temperature appeared to be more important than moisture as a driver of seasonal patterns in Rs at the site. Regular fire events decreased the seasonality of Rs at the study site, due to apparent differences in environmental sensitivities among biotic and abiotic soil components. These findings may contribute toward improved predictions of the amount and temporal pattern of C emissions across the large areas of tropical forest facing increasing fire disturbances associated with climate change and human activities.

Small and transient response of winter soil respiration and microbial communities to altered snow depth in a mid-temperate forest

Global climate change is altering snow depth in winter, which could significantly affect soil respiration and microbial communities. However, belowground responses are still uncertain as they depend on the thermal effects on soils, the acclimation of soil microbial communities and ecosystem type. Here, we conducted a snow manipulation experiment including 50% removal of snowpack (mean snow depth after treatment was 3.1 ± 0.7 cm), ambient snow (mean snow depth was 6.3 ± 0.7 cm), and 50% increase of snowpack (mean snow depth after treatment was 9.6 ± 1.5 cm) to explore the effects of altered snow depth on winter soil respiration and microbial communities in a mid-latitude plantation forest with continental climate with dry winters. Winter soil CO2 effluxes varied from 0.09 to 0.84 µmol m−2 s−1 with a mean of 0.32 ± 0.07 µmol m−2 s−1. The cumulative soil CO2 effluxes from 11 December 2014 to 21 March 2015 were 27.3 ± 1.1, 26.5 ± 2.1, and 29.5 ± 1.3 g C m−2 under reduced, ambient and added snowpack, which corresponded to 5.7 ± 0.2%, 5.5 ± 0.3%, and 5.8 ± 0.1% of the annual soil CO2 effluxes, respectively. Our one-year observation results suggested that although snow reduction decreased soil temperature, microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and soil respiration did not change, suggesting microbial adaptation to cold conditions between −4 °C and −1 °C. In contrast, snow addition increased soil temperature, MBC, and soil respiration. Microbial community structure (F/B, ratio of fungi to bacteria) was also changed and soil enzymatic (β-glucosidase) activities increased under snow addition. However, these effects were short-lived and disappeared when soil temperature did not differ between the addition and control plots at the 14th day after treatment. These results indicated that the responses of soil microbial communities and respiratory activities to changing soil temperature were rapid and the response of soil respiration to snow addition was transient. Consequently, altered snow depth did not affect cumulative soil CO2 effluxes. Our study suggests that wintertime soil respiration rates are generally low and snow manipulation has minor effects on soil CO2 efflux, soil temperature (the determinant driver of wintertime soil CO2 efflux) and soil microbial biomass at our site.

Soil respiration versus vegetation degradation under the influence of three grazing regimes in the Songnen Plain

AbstractUnderstanding the effects of ongoing vegetation degradation (due to grazing pressure) on soil respiration provides a basis for managing grazing to improve sustainability of grassland ecosystems in the context of climate change. In a 2‐year field experiment in a meadow ecosystem, vegetation, soil properties, and root and microbial respiration of 2 dominant communities (Leymus chinensis and Chloris virgata) were examined along a vegetation degradation sequence caused by varying grazing pressures. Aboveground biomass, belowground net primary productivity, litter mass, and microbial biomass carbon significantly decreased as ground cover was reduced. For 2 community types, from light degradation to severe degradation (SD), soil organic carbon (SOC), soil total nitrogen, and total phosphorus concentrations decreased by 14.1–15.4%, 10.9–12.3%, and 10.7–11.9%, respectively; and soil bulk density and pH increased by 9.1–9.3% and 4.6–5.2%, respectively. Over 2 years, from light degradation to SD in 2 communities, annual mean root and microbial respiration rate significantly decreased by 35.9–43.5% and 28–34.4%, respectively. Root respiration was more sensitive to vegetation degradation in C. virgata communities compared with L. chinensis communities. However, temperature sensitivity (Q10) for root and microbial respiration did not significantly change as vegetation degraded. These results indicated that (a) vegetation degradation could drive significant soil degradation in this meadow; (b) vegetation degradation restrained soil CO2 efflux, but more largely decreased biomass carbon input into soil, which finally reduced SOC concentration; and (c) vegetation degradation would not change the response of soil CO2 efflux to climate change. To increase SOC storage and maintain grassland sustainability, grazing exclusion was suggested for restoring vegetation in SD sites, with a stocking rate < 2 sheep·ha−1 or rotational grazing recommended. Finally, overseeding with L. chinensis and legumes should enhance forage and livestock production, and soil carbon and nitrogen sequestration, thus preserving grassland sustainability in this meadow ecosystem.

Interactions between Vegetation, Hydrology, and Litter Inputs on Decomposition and Soil CO2 Efflux of Tropical Forests in the Brazilian Pantanal

Climate change has the capacity to alter water availability and the litter production of tropical forests, which will alter rates of carbon (C) cycling and storage. We conducted a short-term field experiment in two hydrologically diverse forests in the Brazilian Pantanal to assess the initial response of litter decomposition and soil respiration (Rsoil) to variations in litter pool size. Total annual Rsoil and decomposition significantly declined with litter removal and increased with litter addition, but the rate of litter decomposition was highest for plots where litter was removed. Rsoil was positively related to soil organic matter content and the rate of litter decomposition, but not soil moisture or temperature, suggesting that the litter treatment effects on decomposition and Rsoil were due to changes in C availability and not litter effects on the soil environment (i.e., temperature and moisture). Rsoil was not significantly different between the forests studied here even though they had large differences in hydrology; however, litter decomposition was significantly higher in seasonally flooded forest, especially when augmented with litter. These results suggest that alterations in litter production from land use and/or climate change will alter short-term rates of decomposition and Rsoil for these and other floodplain forests of the Pantanal and Amazon Basin.

Evaluating organic carbon fractions, temperature sensitivity and artificial neural network modeling of CO2 efflux in soils: Impact of land use change in subtropical India (Meghalaya)

The present study investigates the changes in land use pattern from fallow land (control) to fruit orchards on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics especially, organic carbon stocks, fractions, and CO2 efflux. The SOC fractions such as total organic carbon (TOC), particulate organic carbon (POC), readily oxidizable carbon (ROC), non-labile carbon (CNL), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), carbon management index (CMI) and their sensitivity to land use change were the focus of this study. The organic carbon fractions showed increasing trend (19.4–46%) under fruit orchards compared to control. Furthermore, the orchard with P. persica recorded the highest mean SOC stocks (59.4 Mg ha−1) and TOC (3.03 g 100 g−1) while orchard with C. reticulata showed the highest ROC (6.11 g kg−1) and MBC (401 mg kg−1). Fruit orchards were characterized by high Cmic:CTOC (microbial quotient; qMIC) and POC: TOC ratios, indicating an increase in substrate availability. Furthermore, the CMI was highest under C. reticulata (226.4) followed by P. guajava (173.3), whereas P. communis showed relatively lower value (160.5). While, upper soil layer (0–15 cm) exhibited higher organic carbon stock and fractions viz., 35.1 % and 58.3%, respectively compared to the subsurface soil (15–75 cm) in all orchards. The labile SOC fractions (POC, ROC, and MBC) showed a positively significant correlation with TOC and CO2 efflux indicating that these labile fractions are the sensitive indicators of soil quality changes and improvements. Soil CO2 efflux exhibited a pronounced variation corresponding to land use change with values ranging from 22.80 µg C g−1 h−1 (fallow land) to 27.39 µg C g−1 h−1 (P. guajava). With temperature increment from 25 to 35 °C, the soil CO2 efflux increased from 55% (P. persica) to 88% (fallow) with an average increase of 72%. However, the microbial metabolic quotient (qCO2), also called as specific respiratory activity (SRA), was relatively lower (40.9 µg CO2 mg MBC−1) in orchards compared to fallow land (50.4 µg CO2 mg MBC−1). A multi-layered Artificial Neural Network model (ANN) was also developed, and the experimental CO2 efflux values obtained from different land uses are in good agreement with the predicted CO2 efflux. We conclude that, labile SOC fractions are highly sensitive to land use change and could be effectively used as the sensitive indicators along with CMI for land use change under mid-altitude subtropical ecosystems. In addition, fruit orchards could store more carbon thus could be a potential option to mitigate global warming.

Soil Gas Efflux in Perennial Bioenergy and Conventional Agricultural Crops in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley

ABSTRACTThe Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) has favorable attributes for producing biofuels. Two study sites were established on retired agricultural fields in the LMAV to explore switchgrass (SWITCH) and eastern cottonwood (CTWD) as biofuel feedstocks. A soybean-sorghum rotation (CROP) was also established as a conventional cropping system. Soil efflux gas (carbon dioxide [CO2], methane [CH4], and nitrous oxide [N2O]), microbial biomass carbon (Cmic) and dehydrogenase activity were measured for two years. Cumulative growing-season soil CO2 efflux of SWITCH exceeded that of CROP; SWITCH had higher daily CO2 efflux than CTWD and CROP in some months. SWITCH and CTWD had greater Cmic than CROP at both sites. Soil CH4 and N2O efflux rates were low for much of the study, with only short-term differences in soil CH4 observed. Converting these retired agricultural sites to SWITCH increased soil CO2 efflux relative to CROP, with increases attributable to greater plant and microbial respiration.

Soil CO2 efflux in relation to soil temperature and relative humidity in gmelina, mahogany and pine stands in Malaysia

Soil CO2 efflux in relation to soil temperature and relative humidity in gmelina, mahogany and pine stands in Malaysia

Differential responses of soil CO2 and N2O fluxes to experimental warming

Land-use conversions and elevated temperature can impact on carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, both of which are important greenhouse gasses (GHGs). Afforestation activity has increased significantly over the last century with a significant focus in recent years directed at offsetting GHG emissions, as forests have a large capacity to store carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) as well as affecting CO2 and N2O emissions. However, the impact of warming on GHG offsetting is unclear. This study was conducted in a forest and a grassland to investigate the effect of afforestation and warming, using infrared heaters, on soil fluxes of CO2 and N2O. Warming significantly increased the daily mean soil temperatures at a depth of 5 cm by 1.7 °C and reduced the soil moisture by ∼5% in the forest from March 2014 to February 2016. In the grassland, there were no significant increases in temperature and moisture with warming and no impact on the soil fluxes of CO2 and N2O. In the forest, elevated soil temperature enhanced the average soil CO2 efflux by 23% but had no effect on soil N2O fluxes. Warming decreased the temperature sensitivity by 13% and 23% at the forest and grassland, respectively. The soil fluxes of CO2 increased exponentially with temperature and decreased linearly with the reduction in soil moisture, and were much larger in the grassland compared to the forest. However the grassland proved to be a larger sink for N2O than the forest. Irrespective of warming treatments, all measured pools were significantly larger in the grassland compared to the forest. Our results imply that afforestation may have a bigger effect than warming on soil CO2 and N2O fluxes within the range of temperatures used and that afforestation dramatically lowers the inorganic, organic and microbial C and N pools, that could, in turn, impact on the responses of forest soils to future global warming.

Impact of rice-husk ash on the soil biophysical and agronomic parameters of wheat crop under a dry tropical ecosystem

Abstract Several alternative amendments like organic manure and biochar have been proposed for revitalizing the degrading soil viability and fertility for sustainable agriculture, globally. However, detailed field-scale studies focussing on the soil and agronomic parameters of crops under these amendments are limited in dry tropical ecosystems. Therefore, we studied the impact of various soil amendments viz., rice-husk ash (RHA) and farm-yard manure (FYM) along with mineral fertilizer on soil biophysical and agronomic parameters of wheat crop. We specifically explored the impact of the amendments on soil CO2 efflux (SCE, under different growth stages) and the harvest index of wheat crop, which are considered as the key indicators of soil viability and agronomic efficiency, respectively. SCE, soil moisture, soil temperature, soil N, microbial biomass and soil pH were found significantly varying under different treatments (P

The relationship between soil CO2 efflux and its carbon isotopic composition under non-steady-state conditions

Soil CO2 efflux and its carbon isotopic composition are undoubtedly important for estimating ecosystem carbon budgets and for partitioning respiration sources at various spatial and temporal scales. Under natural conditions, non-steady processes will strongly influence the diffusive fluxes of 13CO2 and 12CO2 between soil and the atmosphere, which results in variations of effluxed soil δ13CO2 and will lead to bias in respiration source partitioning. In this study, we present a set of quantitative relationships between soil CO2 efflux and its δ13C by solving the diffusion equation. The results showed that the effluxed δ13CO2 converged toward the respiratory δ13CO2 with an increasing efflux rate but that the values greatly differed at low efflux rates. Both our own experiments and data from the literature verified this convergence pattern of the effluxed δ13CO2, which implies that most of the variations in the δ13C of soil effluxed CO2 may derive from diffusive fractionation rather than from biological causes. Our results explain the isotopic flux patterns of CO2 under natural environmental variations and are vitally important for isotope-based modeling of ecosystem carbon exchange under changing climatic regimes.

Effects of Seasonal Asymmetric Warming on Soil CO2 Release in Karst Region

Seasonal asymmetric warming is one of the distinguishing features of global warming. However, if this feature is not considered in studying the effects of global changes on terrestrial ecosystems, it might probably cause misunderstanding of these studies. The releasing features of soil CO2 in Karst regions under various warming scenarios were simulated following a four-year continuous warming period using infrared radiators. A total of six treatments was arranged:no warming (ambient temp, CK); symmetric warming (ambient plus 2.0℃ full year, SW); and, lowly, moderately, highly, and extremely asymmetric warming (ambient plus 2.5℃/1.5℃, 3.0℃/1.0℃, 3.5℃/0.5℃, and 4.0℃/0℃ in the winter-spring/summer-autumn seasons, respectively, LAW, MAW, HAW, and EAW). The results showed that compared to CK, soil CO2 efflux in all the warming plots significantly increased by 0.26 μmol·(m2·s)-1, or 17.41%. In the winter-spring seasons, soil CO2 efflux in the warming treatments increased by 0.23 μmol·(m2·s)-1. The Q10 values ranged from 1.53 to 3.24 with an average of 2.23 under the scenario of warming up by 2.0℃. The warming-induced contribution of CO2 efflux in the summer-autumn seasons (80%) was obviously higher than that in the winter-spring seasons (20%) in the SW treatment, whereas the mean contribution in the summer-autumn seasons (46%) was closer to that in the winter-spring seasons (54%) in the asymmetric warming treatments. Both soil CO2 efflux and Q10 showed a tendency towards decrease with the increase in the asymmetry of warming under the five warming scenarios. The soil CO2 efflux in the SW treatment was significantly (P<0.05) higher than those in the MAW, HAW, and EAW treatments. The Q10 values in the summer-autumn seasons was larger than those in the winter-spring seasons under each warming treatment or across all warming treatments, which was probably related to soil water content, soil microbe, dissolved inorganic carbon, and vegetation growth. The results revealed that it may potentially overestimate the effects of global warming on soil CO2 releasing subject to symmetric warming.

Interactions Among Abiotic Drivers, Disturbance and Gross Ecosystem Carbon Exchange on Soil Respiration from Subtropical Pine Savannas

Globally, soil CO2 efflux rates (Fs) have been linked to changes in soil water content (SWC), rainfall and temperature and/or productivity. However, within an ecosystem, Fs can vary based on site structure and function, which can be affected by a combination of abiotic and biotic factors. This becomes particularly important when an ecosystem is faced with disturbances, such as drought or fire. Site-specific compensatory responses to disturbances may therefore alter C mineralization, as well as root respiration. Hence, single location Fs estimates may not be a representative for ecosystems across their distributional ranges. We conducted a 6-year study along an edaphic moisture gradient of longleaf pine ecosystems that were maintained with prescribed fire, using eddy covariance and soil respiration measurements to address how Fs varies with changes in ecosystem structure and function, as well as disturbances. Lower air temperatures (Tair) decreased Fs at all sites, but that response was also affected by productivity and SWC. Productivity significantly altered Fs rates at all sites, especially when we accounted for changes in temperature and SWC. Plant regrowth post-fire temporarily increased Fs (10–40%), whereas drought reduced Fs at all sites. Our results show that site productivity, Fs and the degree to which ecosystems adapt to climate variations and disturbance can be site specific. Hence, model forecasting of carbon dynamics would strongly benefit from multi-location measurements of Fs across the distributional range of an ecosystem.