Soil CO2 concentration and efflux from three forests in subtropical China

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Contents Vol 50(4)

doi:10.1071/SR12109

Soil, Land Care & Environmental Research

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Soil CO₂ concentration and efflux from three forests in subtropical China

Lixia Zhou ^A, Shenglei Fu ^A ^C, Mingmao Ding ^A, Zhigang Yi ^A ^B and Weimin Yi ^A

^A Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, People’s Republic of China.
^B College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, People’s Republic of China.
^C Corresponding author. Email: sfu@scbg.ac.cn

Soil Research 50(4) 328-336 http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/SR12109
Submitted: 18 August 2011 Accepted: 10 May 2012 Published: 3 July 2012





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Abstract

Measurements of soil CO₂ efflux and soil CO₂ concentration concurrently are important for understanding the mechanism and regulation of CO₂ in the soil. We have analysed CO₂ concentration in a soil profile and soil CO₂ efflux in three typical forests in subtropical China: monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest (BF, 400 years old), pine and broad-leaved mixed forest (MF, 80 years old), and pine forest (PF, 70 years old). A portable soil CO₂ sampler of simple sample operation was designed and used. The seasonal patterns of soil surface CO₂ efflux and soil CO₂ concentration were observed, and were positively correlated with rainfall, soil temperature, and moisture. The mean values of soil CO₂ concentrations at the 15, 30, 45, and 60 cm soil depth were higher in BF (3368–9243 μL L^–1) than in MF (1495–7662 μL L^–1) and PF (1566–5730 μL L^–1), while the mean values of soil surface CO₂ efflux (R_surface) were 0.55 ± 0.11 g m^–2 h^–1 in BF, 0.52 ± 0.10 g m^–2 h^–1 in MF, and 0.45 ± 0.07 g m^–2 h^–1 in PF. Soil CO₂ concentration and R_surface increased gradually with the age of the forests, but the incremental increase in soil CO₂ concentration will be greater than that of R_surface in MF and PF compared with BF. The data suggested that, although older forests have more C, younger forests probably will sequester C as CO₂ faster than older forests.

Additional keywords: C sequestration, soil CO₂ efflux, soil CO₂ concentration, subtropical forest.

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