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Radiocarbon-Based Assessment of Heterotrophic Soil Respiration in Two Mediterranean Forests

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Abstract

The amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2), which is referred to as heterotrophic respiration (Rh), is technically difficult to measure despite its necessity to the understanding of how to protect and increase soil carbon stocks. Within this context, the aim of this study is to determine Rh in two Mediterranean forests dominated by pine and oak using radiocarbon measurements of the bulk SOC from different soil layers. The annual Rh was 3.22 Mg C ha−1 y−1 under pine and 3.13 Mg C ha−1 y−1 under oak, corresponding to 38 and 31% of the annual soil respiration, respectively. The accuracy of the Rh values was evaluated by determining the net primary production (NPP), as the sum of the Rh and the net ecosystem production measured by eddy covariance, then comparing it with the NPP obtained through independent biometric measurements. No significant differences were observed, which suggested the suitability of our methodology to infer Rh. Assuming the C inputs to soil to consist exclusively of the aboveground and belowground litter and the C output exclusively of the Rh, both soils were C sinks, which is consistent with a previous modeling study that was performed in the same stands. In conclusion, radiocarbon analysis of bulk SOC provided a reliable estimate of the average annual amount of soil carbon released to the atmosphere; hence, its application is convenient for calculating Rh because it utilizes only a single soil sampling and no time-consuming monitoring activities.

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Acknowledgments

This work benefited of the financial contribution of the Euromediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) under the GEMINA programme and was supported by the MIUR through the PRIN project “CARBOTREES.” We are indebted to P. Arfaioli for performing the C and N analyses and to the European Flux Database for providing the eddy covariance data. Special thanks are due to R. Muscarella, Columbia University, for his useful comments on the manuscript, to four anonymous reviewers for their constructive critical comments, and to C. Gruening, the PI and the staff of IT-SRo, Joint Research Centre, for providing litter input and eddy covariance data. DP thanks the ICOS-INWIRE EU project for the support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento per l’Innovazione nei Sistemi Biologici, Agroalimentari e Forestali (DIBAF), Università della Tuscia, Via San C. De Lellis s.n.c., 01100, Viterbo, Italy

    Tommaso Chiti, Dario Papale & Riccardo Valentini

  2. Centro Euromediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), Via Augusto Imperatore 16, 73100, Lecce, Italy

    Tommaso Chiti, Dario Papale & Riccardo Valentini

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Agroalimentari e dell’Ambiente (DISPAA), Università di Firenze, P.le delle Cascine 28, 50144, Florence, Italy

    Giacomo Certini

  4. Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici (ICCOM), UOS Pisa, CNR, Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124, Pisa, Italy

    Claudia Forte

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  1. Tommaso Chiti
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  2. Giacomo Certini
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  3. Claudia Forte
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  4. Dario Papale
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Correspondence to Tommaso Chiti.

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All authors contributed to data analysis and writing. TC and GC designed the study and performed research.

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Chiti, T., Certini, G., Forte, C. et al. Radiocarbon-Based Assessment of Heterotrophic Soil Respiration in Two Mediterranean Forests. Ecosystems 19, 62–72 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-015-9915-4

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