TY - JOUR

T1 - Temperature Dependence of Soil Respiration Modulated by Thresholds in Soil Water Availability Across European Shrubland Ecosystems

AU - Lellei-Kovács, Eszter

AU - Botta-Dukát, Zoltán

AU - de Dato, Giovanbattista

AU - Estiarte, Marc

AU - Guidolotti, Gabriele

AU - Kopittke, Gillian R.

AU - Kovács-Láng, Edit

AU - Kröel-Dulay, György

AU - Larsen, Klaus Steenberg

AU - Peñuelas, Josep

AU - Smith, Andrew R.

AU - Sowerby, Alwyn

AU - Tietema, Albert

AU - Schmidt, Inger Kappel

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Soil respiration (SR) is a major component of the global carbon cycle and plays a fundamental role in ecosystem feedback to climate change. Empirical modelling is an essential tool for predicting ecosystem responses to environmental change, and also provides important data for calibrating and corroborating process-based models. In this study, we evaluated the performance of three empirical temperature–SR response functions (exponential, Lloyd–Taylor and Gaussian) at seven shrublands located within three climatic regions (Atlantic, Mediterranean and Continental) across Europe. We investigated the performance of SR models by including the interaction between soil moisture and soil temperature. We found that the best fit for the temperature functions depended on the site-specific climatic conditions. Including soil moisture, we identified thresholds in the three different response functions that improved the model fit in all cases. The direct soil moisture effect on SR, however, was weak at the annual time scale. We conclude that the exponential soil temperature function may only be a good predictor for SR in a narrow temperature range, and that extrapolating predictions for future climate based on this function should be treated with caution as modelled outputs may underestimate SR. The addition of soil moisture thresholds improved the model fit at all sites, but had a far greater ecological significance in the wet Atlantic shrubland where a fundamental change in the soil CO2 efflux would likely have an impact on the whole carbon budget.

AB - Soil respiration (SR) is a major component of the global carbon cycle and plays a fundamental role in ecosystem feedback to climate change. Empirical modelling is an essential tool for predicting ecosystem responses to environmental change, and also provides important data for calibrating and corroborating process-based models. In this study, we evaluated the performance of three empirical temperature–SR response functions (exponential, Lloyd–Taylor and Gaussian) at seven shrublands located within three climatic regions (Atlantic, Mediterranean and Continental) across Europe. We investigated the performance of SR models by including the interaction between soil moisture and soil temperature. We found that the best fit for the temperature functions depended on the site-specific climatic conditions. Including soil moisture, we identified thresholds in the three different response functions that improved the model fit in all cases. The direct soil moisture effect on SR, however, was weak at the annual time scale. We conclude that the exponential soil temperature function may only be a good predictor for SR in a narrow temperature range, and that extrapolating predictions for future climate based on this function should be treated with caution as modelled outputs may underestimate SR. The addition of soil moisture thresholds improved the model fit at all sites, but had a far greater ecological significance in the wet Atlantic shrubland where a fundamental change in the soil CO2 efflux would likely have an impact on the whole carbon budget.

KW - annual soil respiration

KW - empirical soil respiration models

KW - shrubland

KW - soil moisture threshold

KW - temperature dependence

KW - temperature sensitivity

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84978800216&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10021-016-0016-9

DO - 10.1007/s10021-016-0016-9

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84978800216

VL - 19

SP - 1460

EP - 1477

JO - Ecosystems

JF - Ecosystems

SN - 1432-9840

IS - 8

ER -