Separating root and soil microbial contributions to soil respiration: A review of methods and observations

Forest soil respiration is the sum of heterotrophic (microbes, soil fauna) and autotrophic (root) respiration. The contribution of each group needs to be understood to evaluate implications of environmental change on soil carbon cycling and sequestration. Three primary methods have been used to distinguish hetero- versus autotrophic soil respiration including: integration of components contributing to in situ forest soil CO2 efflux (i.e., litter, roots, soil), comparison of soils with and without root exclusion, and application of stable or radioactive isotope methods. Each approach has advantages and disadvantages, but isotope based methods provide quantitative answers with the least amount of disturbance to the soil and roots. Published data from all methods indicate that root/rhizosphere respiration can account for as little as 10 percent to greater than 90 percent of total in situ soil respiration depending on vegetation type and season of the year. Studies which have integrated percent root contribution to total soil respiration throughout an entire year or growing season show mean values of 45.8 and 60.4 percent for forest and nonforest vegetation, respectively. Such average annual values must be extrapolated with caution, however, because the root contribution to total soil respiration is commonly higher during the growing season and lower during the dormant periods of the year.

[1]  D. Jenkinson,et al.  Model estimates of CO2 emissions from soil in response to global warming , 1991, Nature.

[2]  N. Edwards,et al.  Soil carbon dynamics in a mixed deciduous forest following clear-cutting with and without residue removal , 1983 .

[3]  J. Anderson.  Carbon Dioxide Evolution from Two Temperate, Deciduous Woodland Soils , 1973 .

[4]  R. Kinerson,et al.  Comparison of belowground biomass of natural deciduous forest and loblolly pine plantations , 1977, Pedobiologia.

[5]  Paul E. Schroeder,et al.  Estimating the global potential of forest and agroforest management practices to sequester carbon , 1992 .

[6]  R. Lowrance,et al.  Assessing Forest Soil Disturbance through Biogenic Gas Fluxes , 1996 .

[7]  A. Froment.  Soil respiration in a mixed oak forest , 1972 .

[8]  D. Smart,et al.  On the use of antibiotics to reduce rhizoplane microbial populations in root physiology and ecology investigations. , 1995, Physiologia plantarum.

[9]  R. Norby,et al.  Belowground responses to atmospheric carbon dioxide in forests. , 1995 .

[10]  W. Reiners.  Carbon Dioxide Evolution from the Floor of Three Minnesota Forests , 1968 .

[11]  K. Pregitzer,et al.  Effect of measurement CO(2) concentration on sugar maple root respiration. , 1997, Tree physiology.

[12]  W. Horwath,et al.  14C Allocation in tree-soil systems. , 1994, Tree physiology.

[13]  K. Nakane.  Comparative studies of cycling of soil organic carbon in three primeval moist forests. , 1980 .

[14]  W. Schlesinger.  Evidence from chronosequence studies for a low carbon-storage potential of soils , 1990, Nature.

[15]  Kaneyuki Nakane,et al.  ESTIMATION OF ROOT RESPIRATION RATE IN A MATURE FOREST ECOSYSTEM , 1983 .

[16]  L. Rustad,et al.  Soil carbon dioxide characteristics under different forest types and after harvest , 1993 .

[17]  J. Nagy,et al.  Carbon isotope dynamics of free-air CO2-enriched cotton and soils , 1994 .

[18]  P. Rochette,et al.  Quantifying rhizosphere respiration in a corn crop under field conditions , 1997 .

[19]  J. Burger,et al.  Estimating root respiration, microbial respiration in the rhizosphere, and root-free soil respiration in forest soils , 1998 .

[20]  R. Voroney,et al.  Carbon dioxide efflux from the floor of a boreal aspen forest. I. Relationship to environmental variables and estimates of C respired , 1998 .

[21]  D. F. Grigal,et al.  Carbon Storage in Upland Forests of the Lake States , 1992 .

[22]  N. Behera,et al.  Root contribution to total soil metabolism in a tropical forest soil from Orissa, India , 1990 .

[23]  J. Anderson,et al.  The Effects of Climate Change on Decomposition Processes in Grassland and Coniferous Forests. , 1991, Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

[24]  G. De Mars.  The Use of Antibiotics , 1952, Revue belge de medecine dentaire.

[25]  J. Cook.  Respiration from Soil and Litter in a Sown Perennial Grass Pasture , 1995 .

[26]  D. Coleman,et al.  Investigating Short‐Term Carbon Flows in the Rhizospheres of Different Plant Species, Using Isotopic Trapping , 1994 .

[27]  Dennis D. Baldocchi,et al.  Trace gas exchange above the floor of a deciduous forest: 1. Evaporation and CO2 efflux , 1991 .

[28]  John A. Adams,et al.  Seasonal root distribution and soil surface carbon fluxes for one-year-old Pinus radiata trees growing at ambient and elevated carbon dioxide concentration. , 1996, Tree physiology.

[29]  J. Palta,et al.  Influence of soil O2 and CO2 on root respiration for Agave deserti , 1989 .

[30]  W. D. Billings,et al.  ROOT GROWTH, RESPIRATION, AND CARBON DIOXIDE EVOLUTION IN AN ARCTIC TUNDRA SOIL* , 1977 .

[31]  Z. Kolber,et al.  Brookhaven National Laboratory Free-Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment Facility , 1992 .

[32]  Henry L. Gholz,et al.  Soil CO2 evolution in Florida slash pine plantations. II: Importance of root respiration , 1987 .

[33]  C. Edwards,et al.  The Role of Soil Invertebrates in Turnover of Organic Matter and Nutrients , 1973 .

[34]  J. B. Hanson,et al.  Diurnal Variation in Root Respiration. , 1962, Plant physiology.

[35]  J. Marshall,et al.  High soil carbon dioxide concentrations inhibit root respiration of Douglas fir. , 1994, The New phytologist.

[36]  J. Xu,et al.  Carbon kinetics in a Black Chernozem with roots in situ , 1995 .

[37]  B. Griffiths,et al.  Effect of elevated CO2 on rhizosphere carbon flow and soil microbial processes , 1997 .

[38]  H. Laudelout,et al.  Contribution of root respiration to total CO2 efflux from the soil of a deciduous forest , 1996 .

[39]  Bendt Jensen.  Rhizodeposition by 14CO2-pulse-labelled spring barley grown in small field plots on sandy loam , 1993 .

[40]  H. Koizumi,et al.  Respiration of the belowground parts of vascular plants: its contribution to total soil respiration on a successional glacier foreland in Ny‐Ålesund, Svalbard , 1998 .

[41]  H. E. Garrett,et al.  Carbon Dioxide Evolution from the Floor of an Oak-Hickory Forest 1 , 1973 .

[42]  W. Schlesinger,et al.  The global carbon dioxide flux in soil respiration and its relationship to vegetation and climate , 1992 .

[43]  Richard D. Boone,et al.  Contributions of aboveground litter, belowground litter, and root respiration to total soil respiration in a temperate mixed hardwood forest , 1993 .

[44]  N. Edwards.  Effects of temperature and moisture on carbon dioxide evolution in a mixed deciduous forest floor , 1975 .

[45]  J. Owens,et al.  Root Respiration in White Spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) Seedlings in Relation to Morphology and Environment. , 1986, Plant physiology.

[46]  D. Jenkinson.  The Rothamsted Long‐Term Experiments: Are They Still of Use? , 1991 .

[47]  D. Coleman,et al.  In situ measurement of root respiration and soluble C concentrations in the rhizosphere , 1993 .

[48]  R. K. Dixon,et al.  The global carbon cycle and climate change: responses and feedbacks from below-ground systems. , 1991, Environmental pollution.

[49]  M. Kuhns,et al.  Distribution of 14C-Labeled Photosynthate in Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) Seedlings as Affected by Season and Time After Exposure , 1991 .

[50]  W. Cheng,et al.  Measurement of microbial biomass in arctic tundra soils using fumigation-extraction and substrate-induced respiration procedures , 1993 .

[51]  H. Lieth,et al.  STUDIES ON THE VEGETATION OF THE GASPÉ PENINSULA: II. THE SOIL RESPIRATION OF SOME PLANT COMMUNITIES , 1962 .

[52]  Francis M. Kelliher,et al.  Carbon storage and turnover, and respiratory activity, in the litter and soil of an old-growth southern beech (Nothofagus) forest , 1993 .

[53]  David S. Powlson,et al.  Potential for carbon sequestration in European soils: preliminary estimates for five scenarios using results from long‐term experiments , 1997 .

[54]  D. Zak,et al.  Seasonal patterns of soil respiration in intact and clear-cut northern hardwood forests , 1994 .

[55]  K. Münnich,et al.  Annual variation in soil respiration in selected areas of the temperate zone , 1987 .

[56]  M. O'Leary,et al.  Carbon Isotopes in PhotosynthesisFractionation techniques may reveal new aspects of carbon dynamics in plants , 1988 .

[57]  D. Coleman,et al.  Carbon isotope techniques , 1991 .

[58]  Knute J. Nadelhoffer,et al.  Belowground Carbon Allocation in Forest Ecosystems: Global Trends , 1989 .

[59]  H. Wiant.  Has the Contribution of Litter Decay to Forest Soil Respiration Been Overestimated , 1967 .

[60]  David C. Coleman,et al.  Compartmental Analysis of "Total Soil Respiration": An Exploratory Study , 1973 .

[61]  Jeffrey A. Andrews,et al.  Soil respiration and the global carbon cycle , 2000 .

[62]  R. Gifford,et al.  The global carbon cycle: a viewpoint on the missing sink , 1994 .

[63]  E. Davidson,et al.  Belowground cycling of carbon in forests and pastures of eastern Amazonia , 1995 .

[64]  H. Keith,et al.  Input of carbon to soil from wheat plants , 1986 .

[65]  J. Morel,et al.  Use ofr 13C variations at natural abundance for studying the biodegradation of root mucilage, roots and glucose in soil , 1992 .

[66]  J. Anderson,et al.  Responses of Soils to Climate Change , 1992 .

[67]  C. Kucera,et al.  Soil Respiration Studies in Tallgrass Prairie in Missouri , 1971 .

[68]  Edward P. Glenn,et al.  Potential for carbon sequestration in the drylands , 1993 .

[69]  Francis E. Clark,et al.  Soil Organisms as Components of Ecosystems , 1978 .

[70]  M. G. Johnson,et al.  Sequestering carbon in soils: A workshop to explore the potential for mitigating global climate change. Held in Corvallis, Oregon on February 26-28, 1990 , 1991 .

[71]  P. Sollins,et al.  Continuous Measurement of Carbon Dioxide Evolution From Partitioned Forest Floor Components , 1973 .

[72]  R. B. Jackson,et al.  The fate of carbon in grasslands under carbon dioxide enrichment , 1997, Nature.

[73]  J. Ehleringer,et al.  Carbon Isotopic Fractionation Does Not Occur during Dark Respiration in C3 and C4 Plants , 1997, Plant physiology.

[74]  D. Solomon,et al.  On the isotopic composition of carbon in soil carbon dioxide , 1991 .

[75]  P. Rochette,et al.  Separating Soil Respiration into Plant and Soil Components Using Analyses of the Natural Abundance of Carbon‐13 , 1999 .

[76]  J. Ehleringer,et al.  Elevated CO2 and temperature impacts on different components of soil CO2 efflux in Douglas‐fir terracosms , 1999 .

[77]  A. Osman.  ROOT RESPIRATION OF WHEAT PLANTS AS INFLUENCED BY AGE, TEMPERATURE, AND IRRADIATION OF SHOOTS. , 1971 .

[78]  K. Nakane,et al.  Root respiration rate before and just after clear-felling in a mature, deciduous, broad-leaved forest , 1996, Ecological Research.

[79]  H. Laudelout,et al.  Kinetics of Carbon Dioxide Evolution in Relation to Microbial Biomass and Temperature , 1990 .

[80]  Kaneyuki Nakane,et al.  Contribution of micro-organisms to the carbon dynamics in black spruce (Picea mariana) forest soil in Canada , 1998, Ecological Research.

[81]  J. Magid,et al.  Soil surface CO2 flux as an index of soil respiration in situ: A comparison of two chamber methods , 1996 .

[82]  S. Gower,et al.  Belowground carbon allocation in unfertilized and fertilized red pine plantations in northern Wisconsin. , 1995, Tree physiology.

[83]  N. Edwards.  Root and soil respiration responses to ozone in Pinus taeda L. seedlings*†. , 1991, The New phytologist.

[84]  U. Siegenthaler,et al.  Production and stable isotopic composition of CO 2 in a soil near Bern, Switzerland , 1991 .

[85]  M. Billett,et al.  Changes in the carbon and nitrogen status of forest soil organic horizons between 1949/50 and 1987. , 1990, Environmental pollution.

[86]  C. Scrimgeour,et al.  The contribution of plant C to soil CO2 measured using δ13C , 1995 .

[87]  Stephanie A. Bohlman,et al.  Seasonal and topographic patterns of forest floor CO(2) efflux from an upland oak forest. , 1993, Tree physiology.

[88]  J. A. Veen,et al.  Rhizosphere carbon fluxes in field-grown spring wheat : model calculations based on 14C partitioning after pulse-labelling , 1994 .

[89]  N. Edwards,et al.  Carbon Cycling in a Mixed Deciduous Forest Floor , 1977 .

[90]  Roel Merckx,et al.  14C pulse-labelling of field-grown spring wheat : an evaluation of its use in rhizosphere carbon budget estimations , 1994 .

[91]  G. Lemaire,et al.  Nitrogen and Carbon Flows Estimated by 15N and 13C Pulse-Chase Labeling during Regrowth of Alfalfa , 1996, Plant physiology.

[92]  D. Ellsworth.  CO2 enrichment in a maturing pine forest: are CO2 exchange and water status in the canopy affected? , 1999 .

[93]  K. Münnich,et al.  Annual variations of the (super 14) C content of soil CO (sub 2) . , 1986 .