Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Abiotic regulators of soil respiration in desert ecosystems

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Environmental Geology

Abstract

Soil temperature and soil moisture are the most important environmental factors controlling soil respiration in mesic ecosystems. However, soil respiration and associated abiotic regulators have been poorly studied in desert ecosystems. In this study, soil respiration was measured using an automated CO2 efflux system (LI-COR 8100), and the effects of soil temperature and moisture on the rate of soil respiration were examined in six desert sites [three communities—Haloxylon ammodendron, Halostachys caspica and Anabasis aphylla at high (B) and low (A) vegetation coverage respectively]. It was found that soil respiration was significantly and positively correlated with soil surface temperature. A multi-variable model of soil temperature and soil moisture could explain 61.9% of temporal variation in soil CO2 efflux at a larger scale. There were significantly negative correlations between soil respiration and soil moisture in Haloxylon ammodendron B and Halostachys caspica B sites, which represented the driest and wettest sites, respectively. The results also showed that soil respiration displayed obvious diurnal and seasonal patterns during the growing season. The Q10 values for Haloxylon ammodendron A and B, Halostachys caspica A and B, and Anabasis aphylla A and B sites were 1.3, 1.34, 1.58, 1.65, 1.31 and 1.17, respectively, with a cross-site average of 1.39. The results showed that soil respiration was not positively correlated with soil moisture unlike in most mesic ecosystems. However, soil respiration in desert ecosystems is less sensitive to temperature variation than most mesic ecosystems as indicated by the lower Q10 values possibly due to energy limitation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Atkin OK, Edwards EJ, Loveys BR (2000) Response of root respiration to changes in temperature and its relevance to global warming. New Phytol 147:141–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borken W, Xu YJ, Davidson EA, Beese F (2002) Site and temporal variation of soil respiration in European beech, Norway spruce, and Scots pine forests. Glob Chang Biol 8:1205–1216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casals P, Romanyà J, Cortina J, Bottner P, Couteaux MM, Vallejo VR (2000) CO2 efflux from a Mediterranean semi-arid forest soil. I. Seasonality and effects of stoniness. Biogeochemistry 48:261–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conant RT, Klopatek JM, Klopatek CC (2000) Environmental factors controlling soil respiration in three semiarid ecosystems. Soil Sci Soc Am J 64:383–390

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curiel Yuste J, Janssens IA, Carrara A, Meiresonne L, Ceulemans R (2003) Interactive effects of temperature and precipitation on soil respiration in a temperate maritime forest. Tree Physiol 23:1263–1270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • David GG, Black TA, Griffis TJ, Barr AG, Jassal RS, Nesic Z (2006) Interpreting the dependence of soil respiration on soil temperature and water content in a boreal aspen stand. Agric For Meteorol 140:220–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson EA, Belk E, Boone RD (1998) Soil water content and temperature as independent or confounded factors controlling soil respiration in a temperate mixed hardwood forest. Glob Chang Biol 4:217–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson EA, Verchot LV, Cattánio JH, Ackerman I, Carvalho JEM (2000) Effects of soil water content on soil respiration in forests and cattle pastures of eastern Amazonia. Biogeochemistry 48:53–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drewitt GB, Black TA, Nesic Z, Humphreys ER, Jork EM, Swanson R, Ethier GJ, Griffis T, Morgenstern K (2002) Measuring forest-floor CO2 fluxes in a Douglas-fir forest. Agric For Meteorol 110:299–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duan JN, Li BG, Shi YC, Yan TL, Zhu DH (1999) Modeling of soil CaCO3 deposition process in arid areas. Acta Pedol Sin 36(3):318–326

    Google Scholar 

  • Emmerich WE (2003) Carbon dioxide fluxes in a semiarid environment with high carbonate soils. Agric For Meteorol 116:91–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fang C, Moncrieff JB (1999) A model for soil CO2 production and transport 1: model development. Agric For Meteorol 95:236–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fang C, Moncrieff JB (2001) The dependence of soil CO2 efflux on temperature. Soil Biol Biochem 33:155–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernandez DP, Neff JC, Belnap J, Reynolds RL (2006) Soil respiration in the cold desert environment of the Colorado Plateau (USA): abiotic regulators and thresholds. Biogeochemistry 78:247–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frank AB, Liebig MA, Hanson JD (2002) Soil carbon dioxide fluxes in northern semiarid grasslands. Soil Biol Biochem 34:1235–1241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huck MG, Hillel D (1983) A model of root growth and water uptake accounting for photosynthesis, respiration, transpiration, and soil hydraulics. In: Hillel D (ed) Advances in irrigation, vol 2. Academic, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Irvine J, Law BE (2002) Contrasting soil respiration in young and old-growth ponderosa pine forests. Glob Chang Biol 8:1183–1194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janssens IA, Pilegaard K (2003) Large seasonal changes in Q10 of soil respiration in a beech forest. Glob Chang Biol 9:911–918

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jassal RS, Black TA, Novak MD, Morgenstern K, Nesic Z, Gaumont-Guay D (2005) Relationship between soil CO2 concentrations and forest-floor CO2 effluxes. Agric For Meteorol 130:176–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joffre R, Ourcival JM, Rambal S, Rocheteau A (2003) The key-role of topsoil moisture on CO2 efflux from a Mediterranean Quercus ilex forest. Ann For Sci 60:519–526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keith H, Jacobsen KL, Raison RJ (1997) Effects of soil phosphorus availability, temperature and moisture on soil respiration in Eucalyptus pauciflora forest. Plant Soil 190:127–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirschbaum MUF (1995) The temperature dependence of soil organic matter decomposition, and the effects of global warming on soil organic C storage. Soil Biol Biochem 27:753–760

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirschbaum MUF (2000) Will changes in soil organic matter act as a positive or negative feedback on global warming? Biogeochemistry 48:21–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li YQ, Xu M, Sun OJ, Cui WC (2004) Effects of root and litter exclusion on soil CO2 efflux and microbial biomass in wet tropical forests. Soil Biol Biochem 36:2111–2114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu X, Wan S, Su B, Hui D, Luo Y (2002) Response of soil CO2 efflux to water manipulation in a tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Plant Soil 240:213–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lou YS, Li ZP, Zhang TL (2003) Carbon dioxide flux in a subtropical agricultural soil of china. Water Air Soil Pollut 149:281–293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo YQ, Wan SQ, Hui DF, Wllace LL (2001) Acclimatization of soil respiration to warming in a tall grass prairie. Nature 413:622–625

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maestre FT, Cortina J (2003) Small-scale spatial variation in soil CO2 efflux in a Mediterranean semiarid steppe. Appl Soil Ecol 23:199–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nanjing Institute of Petrology (eds) (1978) Physical–chemical analyses of soil. Science and Technology Press, Shanghai, pp 62–146, 196–233, 466, 481–489

  • Qian YB, Jiang J, Wu ZN, Wang XQ, Zhao CJ (2003) Soil physical–chemical properties and agricultural sustainable development in exploitation area of Kelamayi. J Soil Water Conserv 17(1):52–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Qian YB, Zhou HR, Xu M, Jiang J, Wang XQ, Li DM, Zhao CJ (2004) Relationship between water-soil properties and desert plant diversities in agricultural development area of Kelamayi. J Soil Water Conserv 18(2):186–189

    Google Scholar 

  • Raich JW, Potter CS (1995) Global pattern of carbon dioxide emission from soil. Global Biogeochem Cycles 9:23–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raich JW, Schlesinger WH (1992) The global carbon dioxide flux in soil respiration and its relationship to vegetation and climate. Tellus B Chem Phys Meteorol 44:81–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raich JW, Potter CS, Bhawagati D (2002) Interannual variability in global soil respiration, 1980–94. Glob Chang Biol 8:800–812

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rey A, Pegoraro E, Tedeschi V, De Parri I, Jarvis PG, Valentini R (2002) Annual variation in soil respiration and its components in a coppice oak forest in Central Italy. Glob Chang Biol 8:851–866

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds JF (2001) Desertification. In: Levin SA (ed) Encyclopedia of biodiversity, vol 2. Academic, San Diego, pp 61–78

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schleser GH (1982) The responses of CO2 evolution from soils to global temperature changes. Z Natureforsch 37a:287–291

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger WH, Andrews JA (2000) Soil respiration and the global carbon cycle. Biogeochemistry 48:7–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Subke JA, Reichstein M, Tenhunen JD (2003) Explaining temporal variation in soil CO2 efflux in a mature spruce forest in Southern Germany. Soil Biol Biochem 35:1467–1483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang XL, Zhou GY, Liu SG, Zhang DQ, Liu SZ, Li J (2006) Dependence of soil respiration on soil temperature and soil moisture in successional forests in Southern China. J Integr Plant Biol 48(6):654–663

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • West NE, Stark JM, Johnson DW, Abrams MM, Wright JR, Heggem D (1994) Effects of climatic change on the edaphic features of arid and semiarid lands of western North America. Arid Soil Res Rehabil 8:307–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiao CW, Janssens IA, Liu P, Zhou ZY, Sun OJ (2007) Irrigation and enhanced soil carbon input effects on below-ground carbon cycling in semiarid temperate grasslands. New Phytol 174:835–846

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie JX, Li Y, Zhai CX, Li CH, Lan ZD (2008) CO2 absorption by alkaline soils and its implication to the global carbon cycle. Environ Geol (in press). doi:10.1007/s00254-008-1197-0

  • Xu M, Qi Y (2001a) Soil-surface CO2 efflux and its spatial and temporal variations in a young ponderosa pine plantation in northern California. Glob Chang Biol 7:667–677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu M, Qi Y (2001b) Spatial and seasonal variations of Q10 determined by soil respiration measurements at a Sierra Nevada Forest. Global Biogeochem Cycles 15:687–696

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu H, Zhao CY, Li J, Li YJ, Wang F (2008) Analysis of impact factors on scrubland soil respiration in the southern Gurbantunggut Desert, central Asia. Environ Geol 54:1403–1409

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the importance directional project of the Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX2-YW-127), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40671014) and National Science and Technology support plan (No. 2006BAC01A03). The authors thank Dr Su-fen Yuan, Ms Qian Liu, Li-ping Zhang and Hong-yan Pu for their assistance and help in the field work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key laboratory of Oasis Ecology and Desert Environment, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, China

    Lihua Zhang, Yaning Chen, Weihong Li & Ruifeng Zhao

  2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China

    Lihua Zhang & Ruifeng Zhao

Authors
  1. Lihua Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yaning Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Weihong Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ruifeng Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yaning Chen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zhang, L., Chen, Y., Li, W. et al. Abiotic regulators of soil respiration in desert ecosystems. Environ Geol 57, 1855–1864 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1474-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1474-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation