Several important issues of soil respiration under climate warming

doi:10.11686/cyxb2018547

Abstract

Abstract: Soil respiration (R_s) is a major pathway through which soil organic carbon returns to the atmosphere, and its response to climate warming has always been the focus of attention in global change ecology researches. During the past thirty years, great progress has been made in understanding mechanisms by which climate warming affects R_s and the impacts of warming on R_s, based on numerous temperature-raising experiments and models. However, most studies are focused on the direct effects of topsoil warming on R_s, and little attention has been paid to processes in the subsoil, and even less to the indirect effects of climate warming through soil animals and soil freezing-thawing processes, which could reduce the confidence in predictions of CO₂ emission under climate warming. Thus, this paper proposes several issues urgently require resolution: 1) the response of deep soil respiration to temperature rise; 2) the effects of soil animals on soil respiration; and 3) the effects of soil freezing-thawing processes on soil respiration. For these three questions, this paper summarizes the research advances, identifies the existing knowledge deficiencies, provides details of opportunities for improvement, and presents suggestions for future research directions. This outline will certainly be helpful for understanding the response of soil respiration to warming and as a catalyst for building more precise carbon cycle models of terrestrial ecosystems.

Key words: CO₂ emission, climate change, deep soil, soil animals, soil freezing-thawing

ZHANG Zhi-qi, ZHANG Li-xu, XU Wei, WANG Hao, WANG Jin-zhou, WANG Wei, HE Jin-sheng. Several important issues of soil respiration under climate warming[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2019, 28(9): 164-173.

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