Biogeosciences Discuss., 6, 8359–8391, 2009 www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/6/8359/2009/ © Author(s) 2009. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Biogeosciences Discussions
BGD 6, 8359–8391, 2009
Biogeosciences Discussions is the access reviewed discussion forum of Biogeosciences
Responses of soil respiration to elevated carbon dioxide in China Q. Deng et al.
Responses of soil respiration to elevated carbon dioxide and nitrogen addition in subtropical forest ecosystems in China 1,2
Q. Deng 1 2
1
1
1
, G. Zhou , J. Liu , S. Liu , H. Duan
1,2
, and D. Zhang
1
South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China
Received: 16 June 2009 – Accepted: 7 August 2009 – Published: 24 August 2009 Correspondence to: D. Zhang (
[email protected]) Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.
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Global climate change in the real world always exhibited simultaneous changes in multiple factors. Prediction of ecosystem responses to multi-factor global changes in a future world strongly relies on our understanding of their interactions. However, it is still unclear how nitrogen (N) deposition and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration [CO2 ] would interactively influence forest floor soil respiration in the subtropical China. We assessed the main and interactive effects of elevated [CO2 ] and nitrogen addition on soil respiration by growing tree seedlings in ten large opentop chambers under CO2 [ambient CO2 and 700 µmol mol−1 ] and nitrogen (ambient and 100 kg N ha−1 yr−1 ) treatments. Soil respiration, soil temperature and soil moisture were measured for 30 months, as well as root biomass and soil organic matter. Results showed that soil respiration displayed strong seasonal patterns with higher values observed in the wet season (April–September) and lower values in the dry season (October–March) in all treatments. Significant exponential relationships between soil respiration rates and soil temperatures, as well as significant linear relationships between soil respiration rates and soil moistures (below 15%) were found. Both CO2 and N treatments significantly affected soil respiration, and there was significant interaction between elevated [CO2 ] and N addition (p