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Spatial and temporal patterns of soil respiration over the Japanese Archipelago: a model intercomparison study

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Ecological Research

Abstract

We used terrestrial ecosystem models to estimate spatial and temporal variability in and uncertainty of estimated soil carbon dioxide (CO2) efflux, or soil respiration, over the Japanese Archipelago. We compared five carbon-cycle models to assess inter-model variability: Biome-BGC, CASA, LPJ, SEIB, and VISIT. These models differ in approaches to soil carbon dynamics, root respiration estimation, and relationships between decomposition and environmental factors. We simulated the carbon budget of natural ecosystems over the archipelago for 2001–2006 at 1-day time steps and 2-min (latitude and longitude) spatial resolution. The models were calibrated using measured flux data to accurately represent net ecosystem CO2 exchange. Each model successfully reproduced seasonal changes and latitudinal gradients in soil respiration. The five-model average of estimated total soil respiration of Japanese ecosystems was 295 Tg C year−1, with individual model estimates ranging from 210 to 396 Tg C year−1 (1 Tg = 1012 g). The differences between modeled estimates were more evident in summer and in warmer years, implying that they were mainly attributable to differences in modeling the temperature dependence of soil respiration. There was a large discrepancy between models in the estimated contribution of roots to total soil respiration, ranging from 3.9 to 48.4%. Although model calibration reduced the uncertainty of flux estimates, substantial uncertainties still remained in estimates of underground processes from these terrestrial carbon-cycle models.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (no. 19310017) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and the A3 Foresight Program (CarboEastAsia: Capacity building among ChinaFlux, JapanFlux, and KoFlux to cope with climate change protocols by synthesizing measurement, theory, and modeling in quantifying and understanding of carbon fluxes and storages in East Asia) by the JSPS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Environmental Studies, Onogawa 16-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8506, Japan

    Akihiko Ito

  2. Faculty of Symbiotic Systems Science, Fukushima University, 1 Kanayagawa, Fukushima, 960-1296, Japan

    Kazuhito Ichii

  3. QUEST, Department of Earth Science, University of Bristol, Queen’s Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, UK

    Tomomichi Kato

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  1. Akihiko Ito
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  2. Kazuhito Ichii
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  3. Tomomichi Kato
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Correspondence to Akihiko Ito.

Appendices

Appendix 1. Brief description of the five ecosystem carbon-cycle models used in this study

Biome-BGC

This is a biogeochemical model simulating carbon and nitrogen cycles and driven by daily meteorological conditions (Thornton et al. 2002). Most carbon fluxes are calculated on the basis of ecophysiological relationships, such as a biochemical photosynthetic scheme and leaf-level gas exchange. This model was originally developed for North American ecosystems and has been applied at a global scale.

CASA

This model simulates the carbon cycle using satellite-derived absorption of photosynthetically active radiation to estimate net primary production (Potter et al. 1993). The soil carbon dynamics scheme is based on the Century biogeochemical model (Parton et al. 1988). The CASA model has been used to reconstruct regional and global terrestrial carbon budgets of the last few decades.

LPJ

This model is designed to simulate dynamic change in biome distribution on the basis of vegetation productivity and carbon budgets (Sitch et al. 2003), focusing on future changes in terrestrial ecosystems. LPJ is driven by daily meteorological data and predicts land-cover type resulting from competition between plant functional types. This model has been developed in and mainly applied to European regions.

SEIB

This model simulates plant competition at the level of individuals and includes a simple soil carbon dynamics scheme (Sato et al. 2007). SEIB has been developed for predicting biome distribution under a changing climate in conjunction with a climate model. Light absorption and penetration within the canopy is explicitly simulated, and carbon fluxes, such as photosynthesis, are calculated in an ecophysiological manner.

VISIT

This model aims at simulating land–atmosphere exchange of greenhouse gases and various trace gases and reproduces carbon and nitrogen dynamics within terrestrial ecosystems (Ito and Oikawa 2002). VISIT has been used to simulate the CO2 budget at flux sites and in the East Asian region (Ito 2008). This model is driven by daily meteorological data and biome type.

Appendix 2. Spatial distribution of AMeDAS stations

The climate data used in this study were obtained by interpolation of the AMeDAS data from about 1,300 observatories. Figure 9 shows that the stations cover the Japanese Archipelago with an even density at intervals of approximately 17 km.

Fig. 9
figure 9

Distribution of the Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System (AMeDAS) weather observation stations

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Ito, A., Ichii, K. & Kato, T. Spatial and temporal patterns of soil respiration over the Japanese Archipelago: a model intercomparison study. Ecol Res 25, 1033–1044 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-010-0729-8

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