Most studies implicitly consider soil carbon dioxide (CO2) efflux as the instantaneous soil respiration and thereby neglect possible changes in the amount of CO2 stored in the soil pore‐space. We measured the CO2 concentration profile of a well‐aerated soil continuously to evaluate the dynamics of the stored CO2 and to analyse the influence of environmental factors. For 25% of the observation period, changes in the amount of stored CO2 accounted for more than 15% of the soil‐CO2 efflux. The following factors were identified to interfere with steady‐state CO2 storage: (i) the fluctuating groundwater table altered the volume of the vadose zone, causing viscous airflow in air‐filled soil pores, (ii) atmospheric turbulence caused pressure‐pumping at the soil–atmosphere interface and (iii) intense rain greatly reduced the diffusivity of the uppermost soil layer. The friction velocity above the canopy was strongly correlated with fluctuations in the differential pressure between soil air and atmosphere, but no static pressure gradient could be detected because of the permeable nature of the soil. Unexpected short‐term declines in the soil CO2 concentration were observed during intense rainfall events. These declines were explained by the intensified CO2 saturation deficit of the infiltrating rainwater caused by the carbonate chemistry of the soil solution.

The effects of local climate and silvicultural treatment on the inorganic N availability, net N uptake capacity of mycorrhizal beech roots and microbial N conversion were assessed in order to characterise changes in the partitioning of inorganic N between adult beech and soil microorganisms. Fine root dynamics, inorganic N in the soil solution and in soil extracts, nitrate and ammonium uptake kinetics of beech as well as gross ammonification, nitrification and denitrification rates were determined in a beech stand consisting of paired sites that mainly differed in aspect (SW vs. NE) and stand density (controls and thinning treatments). Nitrate was the only inorganic N form detectable in the soil water. Its concentration was high in control plots of the NE aspect, but only in canopy gaps and not influenced by thinning. Neither thinning nor aspect affected the abundance of root tips in the soil. Maximum nitrate net uptake by mycorrhizal fine roots of beech, however, differed with aspect, showing significantly lower values at the SW aspect with warm-dry local climate. There were no clearcut significant effects of local climate or thinning on microbial N conversion, but a tendency towards higher ammonification and nitrification and lower denitrification rates on the untreated controls of the SW as compared to the NE aspect. Apparently, the observed sensitivity of beech towards reduced soil water availability is at least partially due to impaired N acquisition. This seems to be mainly a consequence of reduced N uptake capacity rather than of limited microbial re-supply of inorganic N or of changed patterns of inorganic N partitioning between soil bacteria and roots.

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Evidence of anisotropy is reported for advective air and water permeabilities in soils. Thus, anisotropy is likely to exist also for diffusive gas fluxes. Information about direction-dependent soil gas diffusivity is scarce and most modeling approaches assume isotropy. At hundreds of closely lying positions in a compacted and adjacent undisturbed forest soil, gas diffusivity (D s /D 0 ) was measured either in vertical or horizontal direction. The volume-independent diffusion efficiency (i.e., diffusivity divided by air-filled porosity) was fitted by a generalized additive model (GAM). Significant regressors were air-filled porosity (e), soil depth, and the discrete diffusion direction. The model yields in all cases higher vertical diffusion efficiencies. The compaction factor did not yield a significant regressor of its own, i.e., the reduction of diffusivity in the compacted soil was the same as in low-porosity samples of the undisturbed profile. To elucidate the role of sharing vertically and horizontally orientated pore space and a potential competition between diffusivity in different spatial directions, simple geometric models consisting of 3-dimensionally crossed pores have been parameterized. These models provided a good explanation of the typical nonlinear D s /D 0 (e) relationship. By simple one-parameter correction (linear or power function), this mechanistic model could be fitted to the data. The one-parameter correction of the geometric model could be a straightforward approach to consider direction dependence of measured diffusivities. However, by applying this approach to the observations the anisotropy effect was not clearly evident, which could be attributed to a changing D s /D 0 (e) relationship with depth. As a reason for the preference of the vertical gas diffusion the dominance of vertical stresses and the activity of anecic earthworms are discussed. Direction dependency of gas diffusivity seems to be a basic feature of natural pore systems and has to be considered for modeling gas fluxes in soils. Generally, a preferential vertical diffusion direction reduces horizontal balancing and increases the heterogeneity of gas concentrations in the soil air.