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Components of forest soil CO2 efflux estimated from Δ14C values of soil organic matter

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Abstract

Aims

The partitioning of the total soil CO2 efflux into its two main components: respiration from roots (and root-associated organisms) and microbial respiration (by means of soil organic matter (SOM) and litter decomposition), is a major need in soil carbon dynamics studies in order to understand if a soil is a net sink or source of carbon.

Methods

The heterotrophic component of the CO2 efflux was estimated for 11 forest sites as the ratio between the carbon stocks of different SOM pools and previously published (Δ14C derived) turnover times. The autotrophic component, including root and root-associated respiration, was calculated by subtracting the heterotrophic component from total soil chamber measured CO2 efflux.

Results

Results suggested that, on average, 50.4 % of total soil CO2 efflux was derived from the respiration of the living roots, 42.4 % from decomposition of the litter layers and less than 10 % from decomposition of belowground SOM.

Conclusions

The Δ14C method proved to be an efficient tool by which to partition soil CO2 efflux and quantify the contribution of the different components of soil respiration. However the average calculated heterotrophic respiration was statistically lower compared with two previous studies dealing with soil CO2 efflux partitioning (one performed in the same study area; the other a meta-analysis of soil respiration partitioning). These differences were probably due to the heterogeneity of the SOM fraction and to a sub-optimal choice of the litter sampling period.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Robbert Hakkenberg, Annett Börner, Gerd Gleixner, Martina Mund, Markus Reichstein, and Susan Trumbore for discussion of results. Thanks are due also to Jens-Arne Subke for the pre-review of the paper and for useful suggestions. This study received funding from the EU-CarboDATA project (contract number EVK2CT-1999-00044) and from the Province of Trento, Italy (grant REM DL1060).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sustainable Agro-ecosystems and Bioresources Department, IASMA Research and Innovation Centre Fondazione Edmund Mach, Via E. Mach 1, 38010, San Michele all’Adige (TN), Italy

    Mirco Rodeghiero & Damiano Gianelle

  2. Institute of Geography, Humboldt University of Berlin, Rudower Chaussee 16, 12489, Berlin, Germany

    Galina Churkina

  3. FoxLab, IASMA Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Via E. Mach 1, 38010, San Michele All’Adige (TN), Italy

    Cristina Martinez

  4. Institute of Geography, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070, Tübingen, Germany

    Thomas Scholten

  5. European Commission - DG Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Climate Change Unit, 21020, Ispra, Italy

    Alessandro Cescatti

  6. Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany

    Galina Churkina

Authors
  1. Mirco Rodeghiero
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  2. Galina Churkina
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  3. Cristina Martinez
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  4. Thomas Scholten
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  5. Damiano Gianelle
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  6. Alessandro Cescatti
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Correspondence to Mirco Rodeghiero.

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Responsible Editor: Katja Klumpp.

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Rodeghiero, M., Churkina, G., Martinez, C. et al. Components of forest soil CO2 efflux estimated from Δ14C values of soil organic matter. Plant Soil 364, 55–68 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1309-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1309-1

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