Abstract
Soil CO2 flux was measured across 947 plots at 7 experimentalgrassland sites at the Cedar Creek Natural History Area in order to determinethe relationships between soil CO2 flux and environmental factors,living plant biomass, and soil C and N. Soil CO2 flux increased asthe day progressed, and was positively related to aboveground biomass,belowground biomass, and soil % C. However, most of the variation in soilCO2 flux explained by a multiple regression model(r 2 = 0.55) was attributed to the different experimental sites (61%).Soil CO2 flux increased with increasing aboveground plant biomass(explaining 16% of the model variation),belowground plant biomass (12%), and soil C and C:N ratio(6%). The length of time between aboveground biomass in aplot was clipped and soil CO2 flux variedamong plots. Soil CO2 flux declined with increased timesince clipping, supporting the idea that recently fixedcarbon is a significant component of soil CO2 flux.Soil CO2 flux did not follow standard Q10relationships. Over a 20 °C temperature range,soil CO2 flux tended to be lower in warmer plots.More work is necessary to understand what factors explainthe large differences that were seen among experimentalsites in soil CO2 flux that could not be explainedby biomass or soil properties.
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Craine, J.M., Wedin, D.A. Determinants of growing season soil CO2flux in a Minnesota grassland. Biogeochemistry 59, 303–313 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016019728665
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016019728665