Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2013
College/Unit
Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design
Department/Program/Center
Division of Forestry and Natural Resources
Abstract
A range of factors has been identified that affect the temperature sensitivity (Q10 values) of the soil-to-atmosphere CO2 flux. However, the factors influencing the spatial distribution of Q10values within warm temperate forests are poorly understood. In this study, we examined the spatial variation of Q10 values and its controlling factors in both a naturally regenerated oak forest (OF) and a pine plantation (PP). Q10 values were determined based on monthly soil respiration (RS) measurements at 35 subplots for each stand from Oct. 2008 to Oct. 2009. Large spatial variation of Q10 values was found in both OF and PP, with their respective ranges from 1.7 to 5.12 and from 2.3 to 6.21. In PP, fine root biomass (FR) (R = 0.50, P = 0.002), non-capillary porosity (NCP) (R = 0.37, P = 0.03), and the coefficients of variation of soil temperature at 5 cm depth (CV of T5) (R = −0.43, P = 0.01) well explained the spatial variance of Q10. In OF, carbon pool lability reflected by light fractionation method (LLFOC) well explained the spatial variance of Q10 (R = −0.35, P = 0.04). Regardless of forest type, LLFOC and FR correlation with the Q10 values were significant and marginally significant, respectively; suggesting a positive relationship between substrate availability and apparent Q10 values. Parameters related to gas diffusion, such as average soil water content (SWC) and NCP, negatively or positively explained the spatial variance of Q10 values. Additionally, we observed significantly higher apparent Q10 values in PP compared to OF, which might be partly attributed to the difference in soil moisture condition and diffusion ability, rather than different substrate availabilities between forests. Our results suggested that both soil chemical and physical characters contributed to the observed large Q10 value variation.
Digital Commons Citation
Luan, Junwei; Liu, Shirong; Wang, Jingxin; and Zhu, Xueling, "Factors Affecting Spatial Variation of Annual Apparent Q10 of Soil Respiration in Two Warm Temperate Forests" (2013). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 2618.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/2618
Source Citation
Luan J, Liu S, Wang J, Zhu X (2013) Factors Affecting Spatial Variation of Annual Apparent Q10 of Soil Respiration in Two Warm Temperate Forests. PLoS ONE 8(5): e64167. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064167
Comments
© 2013 Luan et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.