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Root trenching: a useful tool to estimate autotrophic soil respiration? A case study in an Austrian mountain forest

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Abstract

We conducted a trenching experiment in a mountain forest in order to assess the contribution of the autotrophic respiration to total soil respiration and evaluate trenching as a technique to achieve it. We hypothesised that the trenching experiment would alter both microbial biomass and microbial community structure and that fine roots (less than 2 mm diameter) would be decomposed within one growing season. Soil CO2 efflux was measured roughly biweekly over two growing seasons. Root presence and morphology parameters, as well as the soil microbial community were measured prior to trenching, 5 and 15 months after trenching. The trenched plots emitted about 20 and 30% less CO2 than the control plots in the first and second growing season, respectively. Roots died in trenched plots, but root decay was slow. After 5 and 15 months, fine root biomass was decreased by 9% (not statistically different) and 30%, (statistically different) respectively. When we corrected for the additional trenched-plot CO2 efflux due to fine root decomposition, the autotrophic soil respiration rose to ~26% of the total soil respiration for the first growing season, and to ~44% for the second growing season. Soil microbial biomass and community structure was not altered by the end of the second growing season. We conclude that trenching can give accurate estimates of the autotrophic and heterotrophic components of soil respiration, if methodological side effects are accounted for, only.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Ernst Leitgeb for providing the WinRhizo working environment, Veronika Bendl for the assistance on PLFA analysis. We also thank one anonymous reviewer and Dan Binkley for the helpful comments. This project has been partially funded by the HU2005-0023 Integrated Action from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and by funds from the Austrian Exchange Office; Acción Integrada WTZ Spanien-Österreich 08/2006.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Silvopasciculture Department, Madrid Polytechnic University, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Eugenio Díaz-Pinés & Agustín Rubio

  2. Federal Office and Research Centre for Forests, 1131, Vienna, Austria

    Andreas Schindlbacher, Michael Pfeffer, Robert Jandl & Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern

Authors
  1. Eugenio Díaz-Pinés
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  2. Andreas Schindlbacher
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  5. Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern
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  6. Agustín Rubio
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eugenio Díaz-Pinés.

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Communicated by A. Merino and A. Blanco.

This article belongs to the special issue “Plant–soil relationships in Southern European forests”.

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Díaz-Pinés, E., Schindlbacher, A., Pfeffer, M. et al. Root trenching: a useful tool to estimate autotrophic soil respiration? A case study in an Austrian mountain forest. Eur J Forest Res 129, 101–109 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-008-0250-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-008-0250-6

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