Invariant Temperature Sensitivity of Soil Respiration with Depth

Abstract:

Over half of global soil organic carbon (SOC) is stored in subsurface soils (>30 cm), but little is known about the vulnerability of this deep SOC to climate change. Most soil warming experiments have only warmed surface soils, so the temperature sensitivity of deeper SOC and its potential to generate a positive feedback to climate change is undetermined. We are currently investigating how SOC down to 1 m deep responds to experimental in situ soil warming (+4°C). Our field site is a coniferous forest in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California, USA, whose soils are sandy, mixed, mesic Ultic Haploxeralfs. Our objectives are to understand (1) how the mechanisms controlling SOC turnover differ with depth and (2) how the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration differs by depth. Warming began in October 2013, and we have successfully warmed 1 m of the soil profile to 4°C (±0.5) above ambient temperatures at each depth and maintained this warming throughout different seasons. We have taken monthly surface CO₂ flux measurements and monthly gas samples from stainless steel tubes at 15, 30, 50, 70, and 90 cm depths. We have collected soil water from tension lysimeters at 30 and 70 cm after large rain events. Warming has increased CO₂ production at all depths of the warmed plots. Warming has also significantly increased soil respiration from the surface by 39% relative to the control and increased concentrations of dissolved organic carbon in soil water at both depths. The apparent Q₁₀ of surface soil respiration and CO₂ production at all depths is greater than 2, indicating that decomposition is similarly temperature sensitive at all depths. This study is one of the first to test whole-profile SOC responses to warming and shows that deep soil carbon is equally vulnerable to climate change in these upland mineral soils.