The Temperature Sensitivity (Q10) of Soil Respiration: Controlling Factors and Spatial Prediction at Regional Scale Based on Environmental Soil Classes

The temperature sensitivity of heterotrophic soil respiration is crucial for modeling carbon dynamics but it is variable. Presently, however, most models employ a fixed value of 1.5 or 2.0 for the increase of soil respiration per 10°C increase in temperature (Q10). Here we identified the variability...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global biogeochemical cycles 2018-02, Vol.32 (2), p.306-323
Main Authors: Meyer, N., Welp, G., Amelung, W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural land
Carbon
Carbon dioxide
Catchment area
Catchments
CO2
Degradability
Degradation
Dynamics
Forests
Grasslands
Land use
Modelling
Organic carbon
Organic soils
Regional analysis
Respiration
Scaling
Sensitivity
Soil
Soil dynamics
Soil moisture
soil organic matter
Soil respiration
Soil temperature
Temperature
Temperature effects
Variability
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Summary:The temperature sensitivity of heterotrophic soil respiration is crucial for modeling carbon dynamics but it is variable. Presently, however, most models employ a fixed value of 1.5 or 2.0 for the increase of soil respiration per 10°C increase in temperature (Q10). Here we identified the variability of Q10 at a regional scale (Rur catchment, Germany/Belgium/Netherlands). We divided the study catchment into environmental soil classes (ESCs), which we define as unique combinations of land use, aggregated soil groups, and texture. We took nine soil samples from each ESC (108 samples) and incubated them at four soil moisture levels and five temperatures (5–25°C). We hypothesized that Q10 variability is controlled by soil organic carbon (SOC) degradability and soil moisture and that ESC can be used as a widely available proxy for Q10, owing to differences in SOC degradability. Measured Q10 values ranged from 1.2 to 2.8 and were correlated with indicators of SOC degradability (e.g., pH, r = −0.52). The effect of soil moisture on Q10 was variable: Q10 increased with moisture in croplands but decreased in forests. The ESC captured significant parts of Q10 variability under dry (R2 = 0.44) and intermediate (R2 = 0.36) moisture conditions, where Q10 increased in the order cropland
ISSN:0886-6236
1944-9224
DOI:10.1002/2017GB005644