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Relationship between basal soil respiration and the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration and their key controlling factors across terrestrial ecosystems

  • Soils, Sec 1 • Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

The purposes of this study are to characterize the relationship between basal soil respiration at 0 °C (R0) and the temperature sensitivity (Q10) of soil respiration and climate, soil, and vegetation factors and to establish R0 and Q10 models.

Materials and methods

We compiled R0 and Q10 and variables (i.e., climate factors, soil properties, and vegetation characteristics) that were measured in various terrestrial ecosystems.

Results and discussion

The results showed that both R0 and Q10 could generally be fitted by a normal distribution curve across various ecosystems, but they varied greatly among the different ecosystems. The lowest median R0 and Q10 appeared in the desert, while the highest median R0 and Q10 appeared in the deciduous broad-leaf forest and deciduous needle-leaf forest ecosystems, respectively. The relationship between R0 and Q10 across different soil depths varied among the different ecosystems, with the highest and lowest R2 occurring in the cropland (R2 = 0.701) and evergreen needle-leaf forest (R2 = 0.095), respectively. A model that included Q10, fine root production and the ratio of soil organic carbon to total nitrogen (TN) explained 75.0% (R2 = 0.750) of the variation in R0, with a P value less than 0.001. Q10 was further expressed as a model (R2 = 0.663, P < 0.001) including annual precipitation, mean air temperature, TN, bulk density, and leaf area index.

Conclusions

Our R0 models can potentially be used to improve terrestrial carbon cycle models by considering the comprehensive effects of Q10 and soil and vegetation factors.

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Availability of data and material

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary materials.

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Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully thank the University of Delaware for providing global meteorological data, i.e., the precipitation and air temperature database.

Funding

Our study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 41775151).

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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shutao Chen.

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This study does not involve animals.

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This study does not involve human participants.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Weixin Ding

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Supplementary Information

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Supplementary file1 (XLSX 279 KB)

Supplementary file2 (DOCX 21 KB)

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Chen, S., Zhang, M., Zou, J. et al. Relationship between basal soil respiration and the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration and their key controlling factors across terrestrial ecosystems. J Soils Sediments 22, 769–781 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-021-03130-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-021-03130-7

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