Vegetation types alter soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity at the field scale in an estuary wetland.

Vegetation type plays an important role in regulating the temporal and spatial variation of soil respiration. Therefore, vegetation patchiness may cause high uncertainties in the estimates of soil respiration for scaling field measurements to ecosystem level. Few studies provide insights regarding t...

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Main Authors: Guangxuan Han, Qinghui Xing, Yiqi Luo, Rashad Rafique, Junbao Yu, Nate Mikle
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3946705?pdf=render
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spelling doaj-303f1624e66a468e99784d70844a88cf2020-11-25T01:14:20ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0193e9118210.1371/journal.pone.0091182Vegetation types alter soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity at the field scale in an estuary wetland.Guangxuan HanQinghui XingYiqi LuoRashad RafiqueJunbao YuNate MikleVegetation type plays an important role in regulating the temporal and spatial variation of soil respiration. Therefore, vegetation patchiness may cause high uncertainties in the estimates of soil respiration for scaling field measurements to ecosystem level. Few studies provide insights regarding the influence of vegetation types on soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity in an estuary wetland. In order to enhance the understanding of this issue, we focused on the growing season and investigated how the soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity are affected by the different vegetation (Phragmites australis, Suaeda salsa and bare soil) in the Yellow River Estuary. During the growing season, there were significant linear relationships between soil respiration rates and shoot and root biomass, respectively. On the diurnal timescale, daytime soil respiration was more dependent on net photosynthesis. A positive correlation between soil respiration and net photosynthesis at the Phragmites australis site was found. There were exponential correlations between soil respiration and soil temperature, and the fitted Q10 values varied among different vegetation types (1.81, 2.15 and 3.43 for Phragmites australis, Suaeda salsa and bare soil sites, respectively). During the growing season, the mean soil respiration was consistently higher at the Phragmites australis site (1.11 µmol CO2 m(-2) s(-1)), followed by the Suaeda salsa site (0.77 µmol CO2 m(-2) s(-1)) and the bare soil site (0.41 µmol CO2 m(-2) s(-1)). The mean monthly soil respiration was positively correlated with shoot and root biomass, total C, and total N among the three vegetation patches. Our results suggest that vegetation patchiness at a field scale might have a large impact on ecosystem-scale soil respiration. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the differences in vegetation types when using models to evaluate soil respiration in an estuary wetland.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3946705?pdf=render
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Guangxuan Han
Qinghui Xing
Yiqi Luo
Rashad Rafique
Junbao Yu
Nate Mikle
spellingShingle Guangxuan Han
Qinghui Xing
Yiqi Luo
Rashad Rafique
Junbao Yu
Nate Mikle
Vegetation types alter soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity at the field scale in an estuary wetland.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Guangxuan Han
Qinghui Xing
Yiqi Luo
Rashad Rafique
Junbao Yu
Nate Mikle
author_sort Guangxuan Han
title Vegetation types alter soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity at the field scale in an estuary wetland.
title_short Vegetation types alter soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity at the field scale in an estuary wetland.
title_full Vegetation types alter soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity at the field scale in an estuary wetland.
title_fullStr Vegetation types alter soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity at the field scale in an estuary wetland.
title_full_unstemmed Vegetation types alter soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity at the field scale in an estuary wetland.
title_sort vegetation types alter soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity at the field scale in an estuary wetland.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2014-01-01
description Vegetation type plays an important role in regulating the temporal and spatial variation of soil respiration. Therefore, vegetation patchiness may cause high uncertainties in the estimates of soil respiration for scaling field measurements to ecosystem level. Few studies provide insights regarding the influence of vegetation types on soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity in an estuary wetland. In order to enhance the understanding of this issue, we focused on the growing season and investigated how the soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity are affected by the different vegetation (Phragmites australis, Suaeda salsa and bare soil) in the Yellow River Estuary. During the growing season, there were significant linear relationships between soil respiration rates and shoot and root biomass, respectively. On the diurnal timescale, daytime soil respiration was more dependent on net photosynthesis. A positive correlation between soil respiration and net photosynthesis at the Phragmites australis site was found. There were exponential correlations between soil respiration and soil temperature, and the fitted Q10 values varied among different vegetation types (1.81, 2.15 and 3.43 for Phragmites australis, Suaeda salsa and bare soil sites, respectively). During the growing season, the mean soil respiration was consistently higher at the Phragmites australis site (1.11 µmol CO2 m(-2) s(-1)), followed by the Suaeda salsa site (0.77 µmol CO2 m(-2) s(-1)) and the bare soil site (0.41 µmol CO2 m(-2) s(-1)). The mean monthly soil respiration was positively correlated with shoot and root biomass, total C, and total N among the three vegetation patches. Our results suggest that vegetation patchiness at a field scale might have a large impact on ecosystem-scale soil respiration. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the differences in vegetation types when using models to evaluate soil respiration in an estuary wetland.
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3946705?pdf=render
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