Temperature Sensitivity (Q10) of Soil Basal Respiration as a Function of Available Carbon Substrate, Temperature, and Moisture

• Published in: Eurasian soil science Vol. 53; no. 3; pp. 377 - 382
• Main Authors: Gromova, M. S., Matvienko, A. I., Makarov, M. I., Cheng, C.-H., Menyailo, O. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-03-2020; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Carbon content; Carbon dioxide; Carbon sources; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Glucose; Low temperature; Mineralization; Respiration; Sensitivity; Soil; Soil Biology; Soil moisture; Soil temperature; Soils; Substrates; Temperature; greenhouse gases; mineralization; carbon cycle; organic carbon
• ISSN: 1064-2293; 1556-195X
• DOI: 10.1134/S1064229320020052

Basal respiration is one of the key indicators of soil C mineralization. Temperature sensitivity (Q
10
) of basal respiration is important for predicting changes in C mineralization due to warming. A modified methodology of Q
10
determination is proposed. Soil samples were incubated at 25°C with periodic short-term (2 h) decline of temperature to 15°C and high-frequency measurements of CO
2
production rates. The temperature sensitivity is estimated as the average rate of CO
2
production at 25°C (before and after temperature decline) divided by the rate of CO
2
production at 15°C. With this method we demonstrated that glucose addition most strongly affects the Q
10
values at low temperature ranges (20–10°C), while temperature range affects Q
10
stronger than the glucose additions. The negative effect of soil moisture on Q
10
of basal respiration was demonstrated: the Q
10
values decreased with increasing soil moisture.