Effect of soil moisture on the response of soil respiration to open-field experimental warming and precipitation manipulation

Guanlin Li, Seongjun Kim, Seung Hyun Han, Hanna Chang, Yowhan Son

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    27 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Soil respiration (RS, Soil CO2 efflux) is the second largest carbon (C) flux in global terrestrial ecosystems, and thus, plays an important role in global and regional C cycling; moreover, it acts as a feedback mechanism between C cycling and global climate change. RS is highly responsive to temperature and moisture, factors that are closely related to climate warming and changes in precipitation regimes. Here, we examined the direct and interactive effects of climate change drivers on RS of Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc. seedlings in a multifactor climate change experiment involving atmospheric temperature warming (+3 °C) and precipitation manipulations (-30% and +30%). Our results indicated that atmospheric temperature warming induced significant changes in RS (p < 0.05), enhancing RS by an average of 54.6% and 59.7% in the control and elevated precipitation plots, respectively, whereas atmospheric temperature warming reduced RS by 19.4% in plots subjected to lower rates of precipitation. However, the warming effect on RS was influenced by soil moisture. On the basis of these findings, we suggest that atmospheric temperature warming significantly influenced RS, but the warming effect on RS may be weakened by warming-induced soil drying in water-limited environments.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number56
    JournalForests
    Volume8
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2017 by the authors.

    Keywords

    • Climate change
    • Soil moisture
    • Soil respiration
    • Warming effect

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Forestry

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Effect of soil moisture on the response of soil respiration to open-field experimental warming and precipitation manipulation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this