Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Soil Temperature, Not Aboveground Plant Productivity, Best Predicts Intra-Annual Variations of Soil Respiration in Central Iowa Grasslands

  • Published:
Ecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Soil respiration (RSOIL) is the second largest carbon flux between terrestrial systems and the atmosphere, with a magnitude 10 times greater than anthropogenic carbon dioxide production. Therefore, it is important that we understand, and be able to predict, how RSOIL responds to climate change. Although a positive, significant temperature effect on RSOIL has long been recognized, recent studies emphasize the overriding importance of current photosynthesis in controlling RSOIL. We tested the hypothesis that model inclusion of intra-annual variations in aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) significantly improves RSOIL estimates over predictions based on soil temperature alone. We also evaluated the possibility that canopy production is less directly linked to RSOIL, by testing the hypothesis that intersite differences in RSOIL correlate more strongly with root biomass than with ANPP. We tested these hypotheses by measuring RSOIL, ANPP, and root biomass at four Iowa grasslands that differed in aboveground growth phenology and productivity. Among all sites, intra-annual variations in RSOIL were most strongly related to soil temperature (R 2 = 0.89), not ANPP (R 2 = 0.53). All sites responded identically to changes in soil temperature (site-by-temperature P = 0.53), but inconsistently to variation in aboveground dynamics (site-by-canopy P < 0.0001). Incorporating canopy dynamics into temperature-based predictive models improved model R 2 by a maximum of 0.01. Among-site differences in RSOIL were related to root biomass (P < 0.001) but not ANPP (P = 0.34). We found no useful linkage between canopy characteristics and intra-annual or site-specific RSOIL predictions, perhaps because shoot and root dynamics were not consistently linked through time or among sites.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.

Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.

Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Figure 3.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson JM. 1973. Carbon dioxide evolution from two temperate, deciduous woodland soils. J Appl Ecol 10:361–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boone RD, Nadelhoffer KJ, Canary JD, Kaye JP. 1998. Roots exert a strong influence on the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration. Nature 396:570–2

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bremer DJ, Ham JM. 2002. Measurement and modeling of soil CO2 flux in a temperate grassland under mowed and burned regimes. Ecol Appl 12:1318–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Bremer DJ, Ham JM, Owensby CE, Knapp AK. 1998. Responses of soil respiration to clipping and grazing in a tallgrass prairie. J Environ Qual 27:1539–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Briggs JM, Knapp AK. 1995. Interannual variability in primary production in tallgrass prairie: climate, soil moisture, topographic position, and fire as determinants of aboveground biomass. Am J Bot 82:1024–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchmann N. 2000. Biotic and abiotic factors controlling soil respiration rates in Picea abies stands. Soil Biol Biochem 32:1625–35.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Collins SL, Knapp AK, Briggs JM, Blair JM, Steinauer EM. 1998. Modulation of diversity by grazing and mowing in native tallgrass prairie. Science 280:745–7

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Coupland RT,. 1979. Conclusion. In: Coupland RT, editor. Grassland ecosystems of the world: analysis of grasslands and their uses. New York: Cambridge University Press. p 335–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Craine JM, Wedin DA. 2002. Determinants of growing season soil CO2 flux in a Minnesota grassland. Biogeochemistry 59:303–13

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Craine JM, Wedin DA, Chapin FS III. 1999. Predominance of ecophysiological controls on soil CO2 flux in a Minnesota grassland. Plant Soil 207:77–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Culvenor RA, Davidson IA, Simpson RJ. 1989a. Regrowth by swards of subterranean clover after defoliation. 1. Growth, non-structural carbohydrate and nitrogen content. Ann Bot 64:545–56

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Culvenor RA, Davidson IA, Simpon RJ. 1989b. Regrowth by swards of subterranean clover after defoliation. 2. Carbon exchange in shoot, root and nodule. Ann Bot 64:557–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahlman RC, Kucera CL. 1965. Root productivity and turnover in native prairie. Ecology 46:84–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson EA, Savage K, Bolstad P, Clark DA, Curtis PS, Ellsworth DS, Hanson PJ,et al. 2002. Belowground carbon allocation in forests estimated from litterfall and IRGA-based soil respiration measurements. Agric For Meteorol 113:39–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeWitt TA. 1984. Soil survey of Story County, Iowa. Washington, (DC): USDA Soil Conservation Service. 149 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrar JF, Jones DL. 2000. The control of carbon acquisition by roots. New Phytol 147:43–53

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fitter AH, Graves JD, Self GK, Brown TK, Bogie DS, Taylor K. 1998. Root production, turnover and respiration under two grassland types along an altitudinal gradient: influence of temperature and solar radiation. Oecologia 114:20–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fitter AH, Self GK, Brown TK, Bogie DS, Graves JD, Benham D, Ineson P. 1999. Root production and turnover in an upland grassland subjected to artificial soil warming respond to radiation flux and nutrients, not temperature. Oecologia 120:575–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franzluebbers K, Franzluebbers AJ, Jawson MD. 2002. Environmental controls on soil and whole ecosystem respiration from a tallgrass prairie. Soil Sci Soc Am J 66:254–62

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Giardina CP, Ryan MG, Binkley D, Fownes JH. 2003. Primary production and carbon allocation in relation to nutrient supply in a tropical experimental forest. Global Change Biol 9:1438–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giardina CP, Binkley D, Ryan MG, Fownes JH, Senock RS. 2003. Belowground carbon cycling in a humid tropical forest decreases with fertilization. Oecologia 139:545–50

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gill RA, Jackson RB. 2000. Global patterns of root turnover for terrestrial ecosystems. New Phytol 147:13–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heaton E, Voigt T, Long SP. 2004. A quantitative review comparing the yields of two candidate C4 perennial biomass crops in relation to nitrogen, temperature and water. Biomass Bioenergy 27:21–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Högberg P, Nordgren A, Buchmann N, Taylor AFS, Ekblad A, Högberg MN, Nyberg G, et al. 2001. Large-scale forest girdling shows that current photosynthesis drives soil respiration. Nature 411:789–92

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Houghton JT, Ding Y, Noguer M, van der Linden PJ, Dai X, Maskell K, Johnson CA. 2001. Climate change 2001: The scientific basis. Cambridge U.K.: Cambridge University Press. 881p

    Google Scholar 

  • Janssens IA, Lankreijer H, Matteucci G, Kowalski AS, Buchmann N, Epron D, Pilegaard K, et al. 2001. Productivity overshadows temperature in determining soil and ecosystem respiration across European forests. Global Change Biol 7:269–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kätterer T, Reichstein M, Andrén O, Lomander A. 1998. Temperature dependence of organic matter decomposition: a critical review using literature data analyzed with different models. Biol Fertil Soils 27:258–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knapp AK. 1985. Effect of fire and drought on the ecophysiology of Andropogon gerardii and Panicum virgatum in a tallgrass prairie. Ecology 66:1309–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knapp AK, Conrad SL, Blair JM. 1998. Determinants of soil CO2 flux from a sub-humid grassland: effect of fire and fire history. Ecol Appl 8:760–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Kucera CL. 1992. Tall-grass prairie. In: Coupland RT, editor. Ecosystems of the world; vol 8A. Natural grasslands: introduction and western hemisphere. New York: Elsevier. p 227–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Kucera CL, Kirkham DR. 1971. Soil respiration in tallgrass prairie in Missouri. Ecology 52:912–5

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Linn DM, Doran JW. 1984. Effect of water-filled pore space on carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide production in tilled and nontilled soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 48:1267–72

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Litton CM, Ryan MG, Knight DH. 2004. Effects of tree density and stand age on carbon allocation patterns in postfire lodgepole pine. Ecol Appl 14:460–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Lomander A, Kätterer T, Andrén O. 1998. Carbon dioxide evolution from top- and subsoil as affected by moisture and constant and fluctuating temperature. Soil Biol Biochem 30:2017–22

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Luo Y, Wan S, Hui D, Wallace LL. 2001. Acclimatization of soil respiration to warming in a tallgrass prairie. Nature 413:622–5

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McCulley RL, Burke IC, Nelson JA, Lauenroth WK, Knapp AK, Kelly EF. 2005. Regional patterns of carbon cycling across the Great Plains of North America. Ecosystems 8:106–21

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McNaughton SJ. 1985. Ecology of a grazing ecosystem: the Serengeti. Ecol Monogr 55:259–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meentenmeyer V. 1978. Macroclimate and lignin control of litter decomposition rates. Ecology 59:465–72.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mielnick PC, Dugas WA. 2000. Soil CO2 flux in a tallgrass prairie. Soil Biol Biochem 32:221–8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Norman JM, Garcia R, Verma SB. 1992. Soil surface CO2 fluxes and the carbon budget of a grassland. J Geophys Res 97:18845–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Raich JW, Nadelhoffer KJ. 1989. Belowground carbon allocation in forest ecosystems: global trends. Ecology 70:1346–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raich JW, Schlesinger WH. 1992. The global carbon dioxide flux in soil respiration and its relationship to climate. Tellus 44B:81–99

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Raich JW, Tufekcioglu A. 2000. Vegetation and soil respiration: correlations and controls. Biogeochemistry 48:71–90

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Raich JW, Potter CS, Bhagawati D. 2002. Interannual variability in global soil respiration, 1980–94. Global Change Biol 8:800–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reichstein M, Rey A, Freibauer A, Tenhunen J, Valentini R, Banza J, Casals P, et al. 2003. Modeling temporal and large-scale spatial variability of soil respiration from soil water availability, temperature and vegetation productivity indices. Global Biogeochem Cycles 17:1104, doi:10.1029/200 Gb002035

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger WH. 1977. Carbon balance in terrestrial detritus. Ann Rev Ecol System 8:51–81

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scurlock JMO, Johnson K, Olson RJ. 2002. Estimating net primary productivity from grassland biomass dynamics measurements. Global Change Biol 8:736–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tufekcioglu A, Raich JW, Isenhart TM, Schultz RC. 2001. Soil respiration within riparian buffers and adjacent crop fields. Plant Soil 229:117–24

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tufekcioglu A, Raich JW, Isenhart TM, Schultz RC. 2003. Biomass, carbon and nitrogen dynamics of multi-species riparian buffers within an agricultural watershed in Iowa, USA. Agrofor Syst 57:187–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vose JM, Ryan MG. 2002. Intra-annual respiration of foliage, fine roots, and woody tissues in relation to growth, tissue N, and photosynthesis. Global Change Biol 8:182–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wan S, Luo Y. 2003. Substrate regulation of soil respiration in a tallgrass prairie: results of a clipping and shading experiment. Global Biogeochem Cycles 17:1–12

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yuste JC, Janssens IA, Carrara A, Ceulemans R. 2004. Annual Q10 of soil respiration reflects plant phenological patterns as well as temperature sensitivity. Global Change Biol 10:161–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by a United States Department of Agriculture Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant rewarded to J. W. Raich, C. A Cambardella, T. M. Isenhart, R. C. Schultz, and W. W. Simpkins, and a National Sci Foundation (DEB 034376 to J.W. Raid and G. Mora). We thank I. Larson, R. and S. Risdal, J. Risdal, and L. Strum for allowing access to their land. E. Arentson, K. C. Dohse, K. Larsen-Ferree, J. McGuire, T. Price, and M. Shimerdla contributed numerous hours of hard work in the field and laboratory. R. Schultz, T. Isenhart, J. Nelson, and E. Stuaffer and the Departmen of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University, and Naturo and Applied Sciences at the university of Wisconsin Green Bay provided valuable logistical and technical support during this project. We are also grateful to T. Parkin, B. Wilsey, and several anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, Wisconsin, 54311, USA

    Mathew E. Dornbush

  2. Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, 253 Bessey Hall, Ames, Iowa, 50011, USA

    James W. Raich

Authors
  1. Mathew E. Dornbush
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. James W. Raich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mathew E. Dornbush.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dornbush, M.E., Raich, J.W. Soil Temperature, Not Aboveground Plant Productivity, Best Predicts Intra-Annual Variations of Soil Respiration in Central Iowa Grasslands. Ecosystems 9, 909–920 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-005-0093-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-005-0093-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation