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Three-source partitioning of soil respiration by 13C natural abundance and its variation with soil depth in a plantation

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Abstract

Partitioning soil respiration into three components is vital to identify CO2 sink or source and can help us better understand soil carbon dynamics. However, knowledge about the influences of soil depth and the priming effect on soil respiration components under field has been limited. Three components of soil respiration (root respiration, rhizomicrobial respiration and basal respiration) in a plantation in the hilly area of the North China were separated by the 13C natural abundance method. The results showed that the average proportions of rhizomicrobial respiration, root respiration and basal respiration at the 25–65 cm depths were about 14, 23 and 63 %, respectively. Three components of soil respiration varied with soil depth, and root respiration was the main component of soil respiration in deeper soil. The priming effect was obvious for the deep soil respiration, especially at the 40–50 cm depth. Thus, depth and priming effect should be taken into account to increase the accuracy of estimations of soil carbon flux.

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Acknowledgments

This study was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31570617; 31100322), Special Public Sector Research (GYHY20110400904) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (NO.YX2011-19; TD2011-07).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Wenchen Song & Xiaojuan Tong

  2. Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation of State Forestry Administration, Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, China

    Jinsong Zhang & Ping Meng

Authors
  1. Wenchen Song
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  2. Xiaojuan Tong
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  3. Jinsong Zhang
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  4. Ping Meng
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaojuan Tong.

Additional information

Project founding: This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31570617; 31100322), Special Public Sector Research (GYHY20110400904) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (NO.YX2011-19; TD2011-07).

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Corresponding editor: Chai Ruihai.

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Song, W., Tong, X., Zhang, J. et al. Three-source partitioning of soil respiration by 13C natural abundance and its variation with soil depth in a plantation. J. For. Res. 27, 533–540 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-015-0206-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-015-0206-x

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