On the Temperature Dependence of Soil Respiration

Abstract

1. From previously published measurements of soil respiration rate (R) and temperature (T) the goodness of fit of various R vs T relationships was evaluated. 2. Exponential (Q10) and conventional Arrhenius relationships between T and R cannot provide an unbiased estimate of respiration rate. Nor is a simple linear relationship appropriate. 3. The relationship between R and T can, however, be accurately represented by an Arrhenius type equation where the effective activation energy for respiration varies inversely with temperature. An empirical equation is presented which yields an unbiased estimator of respiration rates over a wide range of temperatures. 4. When combined with seasonal estimates of Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) the empirical relationship derived provides representative estimates of the seasonal cycle of net ecosystem productivity and its effects on atmospheric CO2. The predicted seasonal cycle of net ecosystem productivity is very sensitive to the assumed respiration vs temperature relationship. 5. For biomes in areas where soil temperatures are low, soil respiration rate is relatively more sensitive to fluctuations in temperature. Nevertheless, more information is required before any predictions can be made about changes in soil carbon pools in response to future temperature changes.

A new approach to trenching experiments for measuring root–rhizosphere respiration in a lowland tropical forest

“…Soil respiration is generally strongly influenced by soil temperature (Singh and Gupta, 1977;Lloyd and Taylor, 1994); in our study, despite a very small temperature range (<4 C), soil temperature at 0e10 cm depth explained 24e42% of the variation in soil respiration when roots were present, while in the trenched subplots, soil respiration was only related to soil temperature in the litter removal treatments. Increased sensitivity of soil respiration in the presence of roots has previously been shown for temperate forests (Boone et al, 1998) and it appears that a similar relationship may exist in tropical forests even though they have a much smaller range in soil temperatures.…”

Responses of peat carbon at different depths to simulated warming and oxidizing

“…The effect of temperature on Rs has been illustrated in a wide range of studies (Eliasson et al, 2005;Fierer et al, 2005;Lloyd and Taylor, 1994;Tucker et al, 2013). Biasi et al (2005) reported that temperature could influence the utilization of carbon source by microbes or microbial metabolism leading to Rs rate changes.…”

The multi-annual carbon budget of a peat-covered catchment

“…A commonly used method is that proposed by Lloyd and Taylor (1994) who link net ecosystem respiration to soil temperature. This present study used the approach of Lloyd (2006) and Rowson (2007) that both identified depth to the water table as a significant factor in controlling net ecosystem respiration.…”

“…The first row of figures in the brackets represents the probability that the coefficient is equal to zero, and the second row of figures in brackets represents the standard error in the coefficient. This has several advantages over the approach of Lloyd and Taylor (1994). Firstly, it is stated in terms of the air temperature rather than the soil temperature the former being more likely to be measured over longer periods within a catchment and thus enabling better extrapolation of the results.…”