Litter contribution to diurnal and annual soil respiration in a tropical montane cloud forest

Respiration of CO₂ from soils (Rs) is a major component of the carbon cycle of ecosystems, but understanding is still poor of both the relative contributions of different respiratory sources to Rs, and the environmental factors that drive diurnal variations in Rs. We measured total and litter-free R...

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Main Authors: Zimmermann, M, Meir, P, Bird, M, Malhi, Y, Ccahuana, A
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2009
Subjects:
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author Zimmermann, M
Meir, P
Bird, M
Malhi, Y
Ccahuana, A
author_facet Zimmermann, M
Meir, P
Bird, M
Malhi, Y
Ccahuana, A
author_sort Zimmermann, M
collection OXFORD
description Respiration of CO₂ from soils (Rs) is a major component of the carbon cycle of ecosystems, but understanding is still poor of both the relative contributions of different respiratory sources to Rs, and the environmental factors that drive diurnal variations in Rs. We measured total and litter-free Rs, at half-hourly intervals over full 24 h periods, and thereafter twice a month for 10 months in a tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF) in Peru. Total Rs declined by about 61% during the night as a result of variations in respiration rate in the litter, which were partly correlated with the soil surface air temperature. Most of the diurnal variation of Rs in this TMCF appears to be driven by respiration in the litter layer, which contributed 37% to the total soil CO₂ efflux. Total Rs rates at this particular site would have been overestimated by 60% if derived from daytime measurements that had not been corrected for diurnal variations in Rs.
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spelling oxford-uuid:853a4648-cb43-40fb-9c83-315d7b0aa0422022-03-26T21:56:05ZLitter contribution to diurnal and annual soil respiration in a tropical montane cloud forestJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:853a4648-cb43-40fb-9c83-315d7b0aa042EnvironmentEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetElsevier2009Zimmermann, MMeir, PBird, MMalhi, YCcahuana, ARespiration of CO₂ from soils (Rs) is a major component of the carbon cycle of ecosystems, but understanding is still poor of both the relative contributions of different respiratory sources to Rs, and the environmental factors that drive diurnal variations in Rs. We measured total and litter-free Rs, at half-hourly intervals over full 24 h periods, and thereafter twice a month for 10 months in a tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF) in Peru. Total Rs declined by about 61% during the night as a result of variations in respiration rate in the litter, which were partly correlated with the soil surface air temperature. Most of the diurnal variation of Rs in this TMCF appears to be driven by respiration in the litter layer, which contributed 37% to the total soil CO₂ efflux. Total Rs rates at this particular site would have been overestimated by 60% if derived from daytime measurements that had not been corrected for diurnal variations in Rs.
spellingShingle Environment
Zimmermann, M
Meir, P
Bird, M
Malhi, Y
Ccahuana, A
Litter contribution to diurnal and annual soil respiration in a tropical montane cloud forest
title Litter contribution to diurnal and annual soil respiration in a tropical montane cloud forest
title_full Litter contribution to diurnal and annual soil respiration in a tropical montane cloud forest
title_fullStr Litter contribution to diurnal and annual soil respiration in a tropical montane cloud forest
title_full_unstemmed Litter contribution to diurnal and annual soil respiration in a tropical montane cloud forest
title_short Litter contribution to diurnal and annual soil respiration in a tropical montane cloud forest
title_sort litter contribution to diurnal and annual soil respiration in a tropical montane cloud forest
topic Environment
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AT birdm littercontributiontodiurnalandannualsoilrespirationinatropicalmontanecloudforest
AT malhiy littercontributiontodiurnalandannualsoilrespirationinatropicalmontanecloudforest
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