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Constraining size-dependence of vegetation respiration rates.

ABSTRACT: Plant autotrophic respiration is responsible for the atmospheric release of about half of all photosynthetically fixed carbon and responds to climate change in a manner different from photosynthesis. The plant mass-specific respiration rate (rA), a key parameter of the carbon cycle, has not been sufficiently constrained by observations at ecosystem or broader scales. In this study, a meta-analysis revealed a global relationship with vegetation biomass that explains 67-77% of the variance of rA across plant ages and biomes. rA decreased with increasing vegetation biomass such that annual rA was two orders of magnitude larger in fens and deserts than in mature forests. This relationship can be closely approximated by a power-law equation with a universal exponent and yields an estimated global autotrophic respiration rate of 64?±?12 Pg C yr-1. This finding, which is phenomenologically and theoretically consistent with metabolic scaling and plant demography, provides a way to constrain the carbon-cycle components of Earth system models.

SUBMITTER: Ito A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7062890 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Constraining size-dependence of vegetation respiration rates.

Ito Akihiko A

Scientific reports 20200309 1

Plant autotrophic respiration is responsible for the atmospheric release of about half of all photosynthetically fixed carbon and responds to climate change in a manner different from photosynthesis. The plant mass-specific respiration rate (r<sub>A</sub>), a key parameter of the carbon cycle, has not been sufficiently constrained by observations at ecosystem or broader scales. In this study, a meta-analysis revealed a global relationship with vegetation biomass that explains 67-77% of the varia ...[more]

PMID: 32152421

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Project description:Background and aimsSoils of mountain regions and their associated plant communities are highly diverse over short spatial scales due to the heterogeneity of geological substrates and highly dynamic geomorphic processes. The consequences of this heterogeneity for biogeochemical transfers, however, remain poorly documented. The objective of this study was to quantify the variability of soil-surface carbon dioxide efflux, known as soil respiration (Rs), across soil and vegetation types in an Alpine valley. To this aim, we measured Rs rates during the peak and late growing season (July-October) in 48 plots located in pastoral areas of a small valley of the Swiss Alps.FindingsFour herbaceous vegetation types were identified, three corresponding to different stages of primary succession (Petasition paradoxi in pioneer conditions, Seslerion in more advanced stages and Poion alpinae replacing the climactic forests), as well as one (Rumicion alpinae) corresponding to eutrophic grasslands in intensively grazed areas. Soils were developed on calcareous alluvial and colluvial fan deposits and were classified into six types including three Fluvisols grades and three Cambisols grades. Plant and soil types had a high level of co-occurrence. The strongest predictor of Rs was soil temperature, yet we detected additional explanatory power of sampling month, showing that temporal variation was not entirely reducible to variations in temperature. Vegetation and soil types were also major determinants of Rs. During the warmest month (August), Rs rates varied by over a factor three between soil and vegetation types, ranging from 2.5 ?mol m-2 s-1 in pioneer environments (Petasition on Very Young Fluvisols) to 8.5 ?mol m-2 s-1 in differentiated soils supporting nitrophilous species (Rumicion on Calcaric Cambisols).ConclusionsOverall, this study provides quantitative estimates of spatial and temporal variability in Rs in the mountain environment, and demonstrates that estimations of soil carbon efflux at the watershed scale in complex geomorphic terrain have to account for soil and vegetation heterogeneity.

Dataset Information

Constraining size-dependence of vegetation respiration rates.

Publications

Constraining size-dependence of vegetation respiration rates.

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