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Hot spots of soil respiration in an Asian tropical rainforest
Author(s) -
Ohashi Mizue,
Kume Tomonori,
Yamane Seiki,
Suzuki Masakazu
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2007gl029587
Subject(s) - rainforest , soil respiration , respiration , tropical rainforest , environmental science , carbon dioxide , tropics , spots , atmospheric sciences , soil water , ecology , soil science , biology , botany , geology
Little is known about the variability in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from soil (soil respiration) in tropical rainforests. We studied temporal and spatial fluctuations of soil respiration in an intact Asian tropical rainforest. The values of soil respiration were distributed lognormally with mean and median values of 5.32 and 4.65 μ mol m −2 s −1 , respectively. Soil respiration varied little over time though highly in space. CO 2 hot spots (>10 μ mol m −2 s −1 ) were found with extremely high values (15–25 μ mol m −2 s −1 ). Each CO 2 hot spot occurred sporadically at different times and locations. It is hypothesized that animal activities are responsible for the hot spots. The impact of CO 2 hot spots on total soil respiration was 10%, which is comparable to the estimation of net C balance in tropical rainforests.