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Seasonal and daily time course of the 13C composition in soil CO2 efflux recorded with a tunable diode laser spectrophotometer (TDLS)

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Abstract

Temporal variations of carbon isotope composition of soil CO2 efflux (FS and δ13CFS) at different time scales should reflect both temporal variations of the climate conditions that affect canopy functioning and temporal changes in the relative contribution of autotrophic respiration to total FS. A tunable diode laser spectrophotometer (TDLS) was installed in the Hesse forest (northeast of France) early during the 2007 growing season to determine the seasonal and daily variability in δ13CFS. This method, based on the measurement of the absorption of an infrared laser emission at specific wave lengths of the 13CO2 and 12CO2, allows the continuous monitoring of the two isotopologues. The concentrations of the two isotopologues in FS were continuously monitored from June to November 2007 using chamber method and Keeling plots drawn from nocturnal accumulation of CO2 below the canopy. These TDLS measurements and isotope ratio mass spectrometer based Keeling plots gave very similar values of δ13CFS, showing the reliability of the TDLS system in this context. Results were analysed with regard to seasonal and daily changes in climatic and edaphic variables and compared with the δ13C of CO2 respired by roots, litter and soil incubated under controlled conditions. Pronounced daily as well as seasonal variations in δ13CFS were recorded (up to 1.5‰). The range of variation of δ13CFS was of the same order of magnitude at both diurnal and seasonal scales. δ13CFS observed in the field fluctuated between values of litter and of root respiration recorded during incubation, suggesting that temporal (and probably spatial) variations were associated with changes in the relative contribution of the two compartments during the day and during the season.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to André Clerc (Université Henri Poincaré, Nancy) for the building of the TDLS chamber, Jacques Banvoy, Pascal Courtois, Jean-Marie Gioria, Bernard Clerc, and Patrick Gross (UMR Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières, Nancy) for technical help, Claude Bréchet, Christian Hossann (UMR EEF, Nancy), Caroline Guilmette, and Christian France-Lanord (Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, Nancy) for the mass spectrometry analysis, Sophie Bernard, Laetitia Valentin, and Fanny Vaxelaire for help with data collection, and Michel Yernaux (Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux, Unité de Physique des Biosystèmes, Belgium) for the conception and lending of the incubation chamber. The authors also warmly thank Dr. Andrew Merchant (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia) for his useful corrections on the manuscript. This experiment was partly funded by the Lorraine regional council and by the EFPA department of INRA. NM was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship provided by INRA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nancy-Université, Université Henri Poincaré, UMR 1137, Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières, Faculté des Sciences, F-54500, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France

    Nicolas Marron, Caroline Plain, Bernard Longdoz & Daniel Epron

  2. INRA, UMR 1137, Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières, Centre de Nancy, F-54280, Champenoux, France

    Nicolas Marron, Caroline Plain, Bernard Longdoz & Daniel Epron

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  1. Nicolas Marron
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  2. Caroline Plain
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  3. Bernard Longdoz
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Correspondence to Nicolas Marron.

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Responsible editor: Erik A. Hobbie.

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Marron, N., Plain, C., Longdoz, B. et al. Seasonal and daily time course of the 13C composition in soil CO2 efflux recorded with a tunable diode laser spectrophotometer (TDLS). Plant Soil 318, 137–151 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-008-9824-9

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