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Interannual variation in seasonal drivers of soil respiration in a semi-arid Rocky Mountain meadow

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Abstract

Semi-arid ecosystems with annual moisture inputs dominated by snowmelt cover much of the western United States, and a better understanding of their seasonal drivers of soil respiration is needed to predict consequences of climatic change on soil CO2 efflux. We assessed the relative importance of temperature, moisture, and plant phenology on soil respiration during seasonal shifts between cold, wet winters and hot, dry summers in a Rocky Mountain meadow over 3.5 separate growing seasons. We found a consistent, unique pattern of seasonal hysteresis in the annual relationship between soil respiration and temperature, likely representative for this ecosystem type, and driven by (1) continued increase in soil T after summer senescence of vegetation, and (2) reduced soil respiration during cold, wet periods at the beginning versus end of the growing season. The timing of meadow senescence varied between years with amount of cold season precipitation, but on average occurred 45 days before soil temperature peaked in late-summer. Autumn soil respiration was greatest when substantial autumn precipitation events occurred early. Surface CO2 efflux was temporarily decoupled from respiratory production during winter 2006/2007, due to effects of winter surface snow and ice on mediating the diffusion of CO2 from deep soil horizons to the atmosphere. Upon melt of a capping surface ice layer, release of soil-stored CO2 was determined to be 65 g C, or ~10 % of the total growing season soil respiration for that year. The shift between soil respiration sources arising from moisture-limited spring plant growth and autumn decomposition indicates that annual mineralization of soil carbon will be less dependent on projected changes in temperature than on future variations in amount and timing of precipitation for this site and similar semi-arid ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

A.B. Moyes is grateful for funding during this project from the A. Herbert and Marian W. Gold scholarship. Greg Winston provided helpful discussions about the design of the soil CO2 sampling system. Sarah Gaines was tremendously helpful with the soil core diffusion measurements in the lab. Soil profile data will be made available for collaborative use upon request—contact the senior author. This study was funded by the University of Utah.

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  1. Andrew B. Moyes

    Present address: School of Natural Sciences, University of California Merced, 5200 North Lake Road, Merced, CA, 95343, USA

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South, 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

    Andrew B. Moyes & David R. Bowling

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Correspondence to Andrew B. Moyes.

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Moyes, A.B., Bowling, D.R. Interannual variation in seasonal drivers of soil respiration in a semi-arid Rocky Mountain meadow. Biogeochemistry 113, 683–697 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-012-9797-x

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